In the summer of 2007, the Anaktuvuk River wildfire burned 1000km2 of tundra on the North Slope of Alaska. The fire was started by lightning on July 14 and was stopped only by the first snowfalls in early October. This image, taken by the NASA-MODIS satellite on June 14, 2008, shows the wildfire soon after it emerged from the snow the following spring.
The burned area appears as the dark rectangular shape in the lower right, roughly 15-20 km wide by 50-55 km long. The burned area is defined on the east side by the Itkillik River and on the West side by the Anaktuvuk and Nanushuk Rivers. The North Slope of Alaska covers most of the bottom half of the image, from the Brooks Range (mountains) at the bottom (South) to Point Barrow at the top (northernmost point of land). The Colville River is the large river that drains much of this area, entering the Arctic Ocean at center-right of the image; Prudhoe Bay is about 100 km west of the mouth of the Colville. The Arctic Ocean in the upper half of the image is mostly covered with sea ice; dark areas are open water.
