October 22, 2014 - Fires in the Nile Delta, Egypt

Fires in the Nile Delta, Egypt

Fires burned in the Nile River Delta in mid-October, 2014. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Terra satellite captured this true-color image on October 17, 2014.

Each red “hot spot” marks an area where the thermal detectors on the MODIS instrument recognized temperatures higher than background. When accompanied by typical smoke plumes, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for fire. The location, widespread nature, and number of fires in this image suggest they are agricultural in nature, and used for managing crops or pasture. Much of the thick smoke from the fires is blowing southward, toward Cairo.

. According to the Cairo Post, a cloud of smog occurs in this region every year in October and November, caused by farmers burning leftover straw from rice harvest. They also state that the Ministry of Environment formed a central operation room to prevent the unregulated straw burning and agricultural waste, to limit the danger of the smoke. In the first eight days of October, 946 fires resulting from burning agricultural waste were reported in Sarqia, Dakahlia and Gharbiya governates alone.

This year, the rice harvest in the fertile Nile Delta was very high – over 100 percent more than expected. Normally most rice straw is collected and recycled, but this year’s high harvest left so much straw that it exceeded the ability of the government to collect it, leaving more straw than usual to be burned.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 10/17/2014
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC