Images
October 31, 2018 - Fires in India
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Smoke and fire in northern India have become common in October and November during the last three decades because farmers increasingly use combines to harvest rice and wheat. Since these machines leave stems and other plant residue behind, farmers have started to use fire to clear the leftover debris away in preparation for the next planting.
While burning of stubble has been banned in India, many farmers do not have the necessary farming equipment—or the money to purchase it—to clear their fields of leftover organic debris after harvest of one crop and before planting the next. So far this year there appear to be few agricultural fires this year in northwestern India than in recent years, but the start of fire season has been delayed by heavy rains in late September and early October.
Many dozens, if not hundreds, of fires are apparent in this true-color image of northwest India acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite on October 25.
Each red “hot spot” is an area where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected temperatures higher than normal. When accompanied by smoke, as in this image, they mark actively burning fire.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/25/2018
Resolutions:
1km (183.5 KB), 500m (650.7 KB), 250m (2.1 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Smoke and fire in northern India have become common in October and November during the last three decades because farmers increasingly use combines to harvest rice and wheat. Since these machines leave stems and other plant residue behind, farmers have started to use fire to clear the leftover debris away in preparation for the next planting.
While burning of stubble has been banned in India, many farmers do not have the necessary farming equipment—or the money to purchase it—to clear their fields of leftover organic debris after harvest of one crop and before planting the next. So far this year there appear to be few agricultural fires this year in northwestern India than in recent years, but the start of fire season has been delayed by heavy rains in late September and early October.
Many dozens, if not hundreds, of fires are apparent in this true-color image of northwest India acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite on October 25. Each red “hot spot” is an area where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected temperatures higher than normal. When accompanied by smoke, as in this image, they mark actively burning fire.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 10/25/2018
Resolutions:
1km (183.5 KB), 500m (650.7 KB), 250m (2.1 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
