The scourge of droughts, and the terrifying threat to humans and historical locations — the wildfires threatening Athens have been beaten back by firefighters but when it did threaten the Greek capital over the weekend, EUMETSAT’s Meteosat-9 satellite observed the smoke plumes. The European Commission reported that France, Italy and Spain were providing aircraft and Cyprus sent helicopters to help fight the fire.

In geostationary orbit 36,000 kilometers above the fires, Meteosat-9 observed the smoke plumes.

This movie combines the IR3.9 infrared and high resolution visible channels to show both the smoke and the fires (hot spots) approaching Athens from the north at 4:15-16:00 UTC on 22 August. To view a movie of the imagery please go to. (EUMETSAT copyright 2009)