Satellite before and after

Evia wildfires 2021: northern Evia, Greece

In early August 2021, after one of Greece's worst heatwaves since the 1980s, fires charred a large part of Evia, the country's second-largest island.

Northern Evia, Greece · First two weeks of August 2021 · Wildfire · Greece

Compare the imagery

Drag the divider, or focus it and use the arrow keys. Left of the divider is 29 Jul 2021, right is 17 Aug 2021, 19 days apart.

The interactive comparison needs JavaScript. Both images are shown below.

In this false-colour view water is dark blue to black, vegetation is bright green, bare ground is tan, freshly burned land is red-brown and cloud is cyan.

The two images

Satellite image of Northern Evia, Greece on 29 Jul 2021, before the event, in false colour (MODIS bands 7-2-1).
Before: Aqua, 29 Jul 2021 · Open in NASA Worldview · original from GIBS
Satellite image of Northern Evia, Greece on 17 Aug 2021, after the event, in false colour (MODIS bands 7-2-1).
After: Aqua, 17 Aug 2021 · Open in NASA Worldview · original from GIBS

What the images show

On 29 July the north of the island is green forest. On 17 August a single red-brown burn scar covers much of northern Evia, from the north coast deep into the island.

About the event

  • NASA Earth Observatory reported an estimated 50,000 hectares burned on Evia, as well as hundreds of homes.

Limits of this comparison

Both images are from the same satellite and layer, 19 days apart. The scar's edges are approximate at 250 metres.

Each image is one satellite pass at about 250 metres a pixel. It shows where water or burned land is visible from space on that day; it does not measure damage, and cloud or haze can hide what is underneath.

Dates were chosen by checking the imagery on both satellites for several days either side and keeping the clearest pass. Both use the same layer, MODIS Corrected Reflectance, bands 7-2-1.

Sources

We acknowledge the use of imagery provided by services from NASA's Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), part of NASA's Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS). Comparison slider: leaflet-side-by-side (MIT licence). Case last updated 13 Sep 2026.

Questions

What does the satellite image of Northern Evia, Greece show?

On 29 July the north of the island is green forest. On 17 August a single red-brown burn scar covers much of northern Evia, from the north coast deep into the island.

When were the two satellite images taken?

The before-image was taken by Aqua, 29 Jul 2021 and the after-image by Aqua, 17 Aug 2021, 19 days apart.

What can this before-and-after comparison not show?

Both images are from the same satellite and layer, 19 days apart. The scar's edges are approximate at 250 metres. Each image is one satellite pass at about 250 metres a pixel. It shows where water or burned land is visible from space on that day; it does not measure damage, and cloud or haze can hide what is underneath.

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