Wildfires rage in eastern China and Russia Wildfires continued to burn across eastern China and Russia in early November, despite falling temperatures and snowfall. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on November 1, 2016.

Dozens of red hotspots cluster in several locations in eastern China and Russia as smoke washes the region in a light gray haze. Each hotspot marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with smoke, as in this image, such hotspots are diagnostic for actively burning fire.Wildfires rage in eastern China and Russia

The Russian fire season began early this year. Following a dry and warm winter, hotspots began to be seen as early as April.The two countries share a land border which was demarcated in 1991, and they signed a Treaty of Good-Neighborliness and Friendly Cooperation in 2001. On the eve of a 2013 state visit to Moscow by Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin remarked that the two nations were forging a special relationship. The two countries have enjoyed close relations militarily, economically, and politically, while supporting each other on various global issues. However, Russian commentators have increasingly raised concerns about China’s ambitions and influence in Central Asia, an area traditionally within Russian influence

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Credit: NASA