File:Mediterranean Wildfires (MODIS 2021-08-08).jpg

English: After sweating under an extreme and long-lasting heatwave, the Mediterranean region is ablaze with wildfires.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image that captured several fires along the northern Mediterranean coast on August 5, 2021. Heavy smoke pours from several fires in Turkey and, in the west, many large red “hotspots” are visible in Greece. Each red hotspot marks an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hotspots are diagnostic for actively burning fire.

On August 4, the European Union’s Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS) called the Mediterranean a “wildfire hotspot”. They reported that fire intensity, measured by “fire radiative power”, had reached the highest daily values since records began in 2003. Fire radiative power is a measure of energy released by wildfires and biomass burning, and therefore is a measure of how much vegetation is burned.

Much of southern Europe has been baking for months under extreme heat not seen since the 1980s. National temperature records were set in both Greece and Turkey in July and again in August. Air temperatures reached 47.1°C (117°F) in Greece and surrounding areas on August 3. Despite ferocious downpours in central Europe, and rain falling near Antalya, Turkey on August 7, the heatwave—and the fires—continue.

On August 7, fifty-five fires were reported burning across Greece, with three large fires requiring evacuations. On the island of Evia, fire has effectively split the island in two, separating the northern section from the southern along the fire line. According to data from the European Forest Fire Information System, in the last 10 days, 56,655 hectares (140,000 acres) have burned in Greece. Two people have reportedly perished from the fires.

In Turkey, more than 200 fires have been reported in 47 provinces across the country recently. The appearance of rain brought some relief on August 7, but at the end of the day, thirteen fires continued to blaze. The tourist-favored town of Mugla remains in peril from a nearby inferno, with three neighborhoods under evacuation orders. Media reports eight deaths attributed to wildfires in Turkey.

While Greece and Turkey have had the most notable and destructive blazes in the past week, wildfires also are ramping up in neighboring countries. Italy, Albania and North Macedonia are also facing extreme fire weather and increasing numbers of blazes.