Fires and Smoke in Alaska
Fires and Smoke in Alaska. Thunderstorms over Alaska drove active fire behavior at the 40,000-acre Sand Creek Fire in east-central Alaska (largest cluster of red dots) on June 22 and 23, 2003. These Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) images from late June show active fire locations marked with red dots. Other scattered fires were detected across the state.
The Pacific Ocean lies to the south and southwest. It is the largest U.S. state by area and the seventh largest subnational division in the world. In addition, it is the 3rd least populous and the most sparsely populated of the 50 United States; nevertheless, it is by far the most populous territory located mostly north of the 60th parallel in North America: its population—estimated at 738,432 by the United States Census Bureau in 2015. Also is more than quadruple the combined populations of Northern Canada and Greenland. Approximately half of Alaska’s residents live within the Anchorage metropolitan area. Alaska’s economy is dominated by the fishing, natural gas, and oil industries, resources which it has in abundance. United States armed forces bases and tourism are also a significant part of the economy. Also Fires and Smoke in Alaska are common.
