The photo above, taken by NASA’s MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) satellite on September 11, got my attention due to it’s artistic nature. I have seen a lot of satellite photos of fires, but this one has the added element of swirling clouds above the smoke created by multiple fires below…. almost like it was done by an artist. These fires are burning in Tomsk, a region of south central Siberia where severe wildfires have burned throughout the summer.

More than 17,000 wildfires had burned more than 30 million hectares (74 million acres) through August 2012, according to researchers at the Sukachev Institute of Forest in the Russian Academy of Sciences. In comparison, 20 million hectares burned last year, which was roughly the average between 2000 and 2008, according to an analysis of MODIS data.

Russia is experiencing the most severe fire season in a decade. Most of the fires are burning taiga in remote parts of eastern and central Siberia.