NASA has released a series of pictures from satellite data visualizations that show how tens of millions of fires look from outer space. The fire observations by the MODearate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer or MODIS for short, help scientists understand the effects of fire on the Earth's environment from local to global scales.

"What you see here is a very good representation of the satellite data scientists use to understand the global distribution of fires and to determine where and how fire distribution is responding to climate change and population growth," said Chris Justice of the University of Maryland, College Park, lead scientist on MODIS fire data.

The visualization series takes viewers on a global tour of Earth's hottest fires detected from July 2002 to July 2011.

Watch the video from NASA.

NASA