Images
March 20, 2011 - Fires in Central Africa
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Hundreds of fires burned across Central Africa on March 13, 2011, covering the region in smoke and haze. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite captured this true-color image the same day.
The most intense and dense fire activity was found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the numbers of fires are so closely spaced that the red hotspots which mark the thermal anomalies captured by the MODIS instruments lie so close together that the landscape appears to be covered with red ribbon in several places. Large plumes of gray smoke can be seen blowing towards the southwest, towards the Republic of the Congo and the lowlands south of the Congo River, where the smoke underlies white clouds, obscuring the land from view.
Multiple fires also burn in the Central African Republic, especially in savannah and forest. Savannah ecosystems in the central zone of the country are considered to be fire-maintained. Here fire season begins in November and moves southwest following Harmattan winds. The onset of rains in March normally ends the fire season in Central Africa.
The fire season is, in large part, a man-made event. Although some fires are naturally started by lightening strike, most fires in this region are deliberately set for agricultural management (preparing fields for planting), pasture management or large scale hunting.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 3/13/2011
Resolutions:
1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Hundreds of fires burned across Central Africa on March 13, 2011, covering the region in smoke and haze. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite captured this true-color image the same day.
The most intense and dense fire activity was found in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the numbers of fires are so closely spaced that the red hotspots which mark the thermal anomalies captured by the MODIS instruments lie so close together that the landscape appears to be covered with red ribbon in several places. Large plumes of gray smoke can be seen blowing towards the southwest, towards the Republic of the Congo and the lowlands south of the Congo River, where the smoke underlies white clouds, obscuring the land from view.
Multiple fires also burn in the Central African Republic, especially in savannah and forest. Savannah ecosystems in the central zone of the country are considered to be fire-maintained. Here fire season begins in November and moves southwest following Harmattan winds. The onset of rains in March normally ends the fire season in Central Africa.
The fire season is, in large part, a man-made event. Although some fires are naturally started by lightening strike, most fires in this region are deliberately set for agricultural management (preparing fields for planting), pasture management or large scale hunting.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 3/13/2011
Resolutions:
1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
