Fires at the Al Qayyarah oil field, Nineveh Governorate, between 18 July 2016 and 7 January 2017

This map illustrates satellite-detected fires and smoke plumes at oil wells south of Mosul, and also east of Baiji, Iraq. The Mosul fires began with an initial fire at one or two wells on 8 May 2016, lasting less than one day, and intermittently burned in June. The current fire complex began on 3 July with daily fire detections occurring until about 12 July, when the fires greatly increased in number and continued to burn until gradual reductions in detected fires occurred starting in November 2016. The fires east of Baiji have been active since early January 2016. The frequency of smoke plumes (in days) is symbolized in shades of red and yellow, and was calculated using daily MODIS satellite images collected between 18 July 2016 and 24 January 2017. Note that as the plume dissipates then areas of thinner smoke are not detected in this process. The inset on the top right corner shows the infrared data from a Landsat image collected on 24 January 2017, indicating the Mosul fires in white. The inset on the top left corner, from 21 January 2017, shows the same area in real color. Additionally, precipitation data from NASA's IMERG algorithm was included to evaluate instances of rainfall intersecting the smoke plume. This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. Please send ground feedback to UNITAR - UNOSAT.

This map illustrates satellite-detected fires and smoke plumes at oil wells south of Mosul, and also east of Baiji, Iraq. The Mosul fires began with an initial fire at one or two wells on 8 May 2016, lasting less than one day, and intermittently burned in June. The current fire complex began on 3 July with daily fire detections occurring until about 12 July, when the fires greatly increased in number and continued to burn to the present at that scale. The fires east of Baiji have been active since early January 2016. The frequency of smoke plumes (in days) is symbolized in shades of red and yellow, and was calculated using daily MODIS satellite images collected between 18 July and 14 December, 2016. Note that as the plume dissipates then areas of thinner smoke are not detected in this process. The inset on the top right corner shows the thermal data from a Landsat image collected on 7 December, indicating the Mosul fires in white. The inset on the top left corner, from 6 December, shows the same area in false color, displaying the near infrared band in red. Additionally, precipitation data from NASA's IMERG algorithm was included to evaluate instances of rainfall intersecting the smoke plume. This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. Please send ground feedback to UNITAR - UNOSAT.

This map illustrates satellite-detected fires and smoke plumes at oil wells south of Mosul, and also east of Baiji, Iraq. The Mosul fires began with an initial fire at one or two wells on 8 May 2016, lasting less than one day. Subsequently, on several dates in June small-scale fires burned for durations of less than one day. The current fire complex began on 3 July with daily fire detections occurring until about 12 July, when the fires greatly increased in number, continuing to the present at that scale. The fires east of Baiji have been active since early January 2016. The frequency of smoke plumes (in days) is symbolized in shades of red and yellow, and was calculated using 99 MODIS satellite images collected between July 18 and October 24, 2016. Note that as the plume dissipates then areas of thinner smoke are not detected in this process, and thus this analysis indicates only the areas of dense, relatively heavy smoke. The inset on the top right corner shows the thermal data from a Landsat image collected on October 20, indicating the Mosul fires in white. The inset on the top left corner shows the same area in natural color. This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. Please send ground feedback to UNITAR - UNOSAT.

This map illustrates satellite-detected fires and smoke plumes at oil wells south of Mosul, and also east of Baiji, Iraq. The Mosul fires began with an initial fire at one or two wells on 8 May 2016, lasting less than one day, and intermittently burned in June. The current fire complex began on 3 July with daily fire detections occurring until about 12 July, when the fires greatly increased in number and continued to burn until gradual reductions in detected fires occurred starting in November 2016. The fires east of Baiji have been active since early January 2016. The frequency of smoke plumes (in days) is symbolized in shades of red and yellow, and was calculated using daily MODIS satellite images collected between 18 July 2016 and 13 March 2017. Note that as the plume dissipates then areas of thinner smoke are not detected in this process. The inset on the top right corner shows the infrared data from a Landsat image collected on 25 February 2017, indicating the Mosul fires in white. The inset on the top left corner, from 5 March 2017, shows the same area in real color. Additionally, precipitation data from NASA's IMERG algorithm was included to evaluate instances of rainfall intersecting the smoke plume. This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. Please send ground feedback to UNITAR - UNOSAT.

This map illustrates satellite-detected fires and smoke plumes at oil wells south of Mosul, and also east of Baiji, Iraq. The Mosul fires began with an initial fire at one or two wells on 8 May 2016, lasting less than one day, and intermittently burned in June. The current fire complex began on 3 July with daily fire detections occurring until about 12 July, when the fires greatly increased in number and continued to burn until gradual reductions in detected fires occurred starting in November 2016. The fires east of Baiji have been active since early January 2016. The frequency of smoke plumes (in days) is symbolized in shades of red and yellow, and was calculated using daily MODIS satellite images collected between 18 July 2016 and 13 March 2017. Note that as the plume dissipates then areas of thinner smoke are not detected in this process. The inset on the top right corner shows the infrared data from a Landsat image collected on 25 February 2017, indicating the Mosul fires in white. The inset on the top left corner, from 5 March 2017, shows the same area in real color. Additionally, precipitation data from NASA's IMERG algorithm was included to evaluate instances of rainfall intersecting the smoke plume. This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. Please send ground feedback to UNITAR - UNOSAT.

This map illustrates satellite-detected fires and smoke plumes at oil wells south of Mosul, and also east of Baiji, Iraq. The Mosul fires began with an initial fire at one or two wells on 8 May 2016, lasting less than one day, and intermittently burned in June. The current fire complex began on 3 July with daily fire detections occurring until about 12 July, when the fires greatly increased in number and continued to burn until gradual reductions in detected fires occurred starting in November 2016. The fires east of Baiji have been active since early January 2016. The frequency of smoke plumes (in days) is symbolized in shades of red and yellow, and was calculated using daily MODIS satellite images collected between 18 July 2016 and 13 March 2017. Note that as the plume dissipates then areas of thinner smoke are not detected in this process. The inset on the top right corner shows the infrared data from a Landsat image collected on 25 February 2017, indicating the Mosul fires in white. The inset on the top left corner, from 5 March 2017, shows the same area in real color. Additionally, precipitation data from NASA's IMERG algorithm was included to evaluate instances of rainfall intersecting the smoke plume. This is a preliminary analysis and has not yet been validated in the field. Please send ground feedback to UNITAR - UNOSAT.