Fire activity in Russia in 2000–2008 was analysed on the basis of the newest satellite MODIS MCD45 Burned Area data. The estimated annual burned areas exhibited strong variability in magnitude, geographical location and affected vegetation, varying in total from 5.4 Mha in 2000 to 33.0 Mha in 2008. The total area burned in 2000–2008 in forests and woodlands (the areas with percent tree canopy cover >40%) was 43.4 Mha, of which about 90% was burned in the eastern Siberia and the Far East, and 53% was burned during the large fire years 2003 and 2008. The forest burned areas were mainly localized within 50–55°N, approximately along the southern edge of the area of boreal forests. The reliability of the resultant estimates was tested by comparison with the known early published results. Some applications of the results in problems of atmospheric composition and air quality are also discussed.

Satellite measurements of the fire radiation power, measurements of atmospheric pollution in the network of GPU Mosekomonitoring stations, and the modern CHIMERE chemical transport model (CHIMERE CTM) are used for estimating the influence that forest fires have on the air pollution level in the Moscow megalopolis region during the summer of 2007. The method by which the radiation power caused by natural fires determined from satellite measurements is converted into emissions of individual model species is described. General problems related to the optimization of estimates of fire emission and the effects caused by them based on the combined use of measurement data on the composition of the atmosphere and the CTM are considered using a concrete example. It is shown, in particular, that the use of the standard least squares method for the optimization of fire emissions from leads in the general case to obtaining biased (underestimated) estimates. The results of calculations consistent with measurements show that forest fires near Moscow can occasionally be responsible for a considerable part of the air pollution observed in Moscow and its vicinities, and they can be the main reason for the high level of atmospheric pollution in some neighboring regions.