In November 2016, tens of thousands of people were forced to flee Haifa, Israel, when several fires burned in the coastal city. Over several days, the fires destroyed 77 buildings and left more than 1,600 people homeless. On November 24, 2016, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of easterly winds blowing smoke out over the Mediterranean Sea. Red outlines indicate hot spots where the sensor detected unusually warm surface temperatures associated with fires. Israel authorities are treating many of the fires as arson, according to news reports.
NASA Earth Observatory image, using MODIS data from LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.