MODIS true color image of Northeastern Russia, 3 July 2004.
Despite summer weather melting snow from the land and bringing out the lush green of vegetation, ice continues to float in the Kara Sea, between mainland Russia and Novaya Zemlya. While not the solid sheets of ice that in the winter are almost indistinguishable from the snow-covered land, the presence of ice stands as a reminder of the colder weather yet to come.
On the mainland, snow still dusts the peaks of the Ural Mountains, which wind their way south along the western edge of the West Siberian Plateau toward Kazakhstan. Tiny red dots in the plains west of the Ural Mountains mark the location of fires that are likely agricultural in nature.
Text and image courtesy of NASA's MODIS Land Rapid Response Team.