Images
April 8, 2009 - Fires on the Yucatan Peninsula
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Scores of fires were burning in southern Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula, in northern Guatemala and northern Honduras in early April 2009. This image from the MODIS on the Aqua satellite shows the fires (marked in red) on April 2. Smoke spreads northward over Campeche Bay in the Gulf of Mexico.
In southern Mexico and northern Central America, as in many parts of the developing world, tropical forests are under intense pressure as people clear land for agriculture and logging. Each year during the dry season (November to May) land managers and conservationists must be increasingly vigilant about protecting the area’s national parks and preserves from accidental and intentional (arson) fires. Fires that farmers use to clear their land in anticipation of spring planting sometimes get out of control and invade natural areas; people also set fires illegally because degraded forests are easier for loggers and miners to exploit.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 04/02/2009
Resolutions:
1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Scores of fires were burning in southern Mexico, on the Yucatan Peninsula, in northern Guatemala and northern Honduras in early April 2009. This image from the MODIS on the Aqua satellite shows the fires (marked in red) on April 2. Smoke spreads northward over Campeche Bay in the Gulf of Mexico.
In southern Mexico and northern Central America, as in many parts of the developing world, tropical forests are under intense pressure as people clear land for agriculture and logging. Each year during the dry season (November to May) land managers and conservationists must be increasingly vigilant about protecting the area’s national parks and preserves from accidental and intentional (arson) fires. Fires that farmers use to clear their land in anticipation of spring planting sometimes get out of control and invade natural areas; people also set fires illegally because degraded forests are easier for loggers and miners to exploit.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 04/02/2009
Resolutions:
1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
