Images
August 29, 2024 - Smoke and Fire Continues in South America
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A layer of smothering smoke sullied the skies east of the Andes, blanketing Bolivia and much of Brazil in a thick gray haze in late August 2024. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of the region on August 27.
In this section of Brazil and in Bolivia, as in many parts of the world, fire is used as a tool for management of agricultural land or, less commonly, to manage wildland. The goal of such fires can be to open new land for cropping, renew pastureland, clear cropland, prepare a field for planting, or to use small fires to reduce fuel loads. In this region, the fire season typically starts in July and lasts for about 15 weeks.
Significant damage is done, even with controlled burns, especially when fire is used to destroy critical rainforest to render the land accessible for commercial use (also known as slash-and-burn agriculture). Deliberately set fires can easily slip out of control and create extremely destructive large wildfires that destroy important forests and pump dangerous levels of smoke into the air.
Both Bolivia and Brazil have sweltered under severe heatwaves and are facing drought conditions that have left vegetation parched—critical factors creating extreme risk of wildfires. While most of the fires seen in this image (each marked in red) may be traditional agricultural fires, far too many are out-of-control wildfires.
On July 25, Reuters reported that the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz had declared a state of emergency through the end the year due to climatic changes, which included drought, extreme temperatures, forest fires, among other events.
A United Nations report, published on Relief Web on August 27, stated that 12 municipalities in Bolivia have declared themselves in disaster and 3 in emergency due to forest fires. A total of 40 municipalities have been affected, with more than 75,000 people impacted, including more than 300 who have been evacuated due to fire. Two people are listed as having died. As of August 27, 43 active fires were reported, with more than 1,975,929 hectares burnt.
Brazil has also been severely affected by wildfire, with many media reports of citizens stating they are suffering respiratory distress, coughing, and burning eyes due to wildfire smoke. The state of São Paulo has been particularly hard hit, with fires detected by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in the month of August higher than in any August since it started collecting data in 1998. According to an article by BBC, INPE has registered 5,281 fires so far in August, compared with 1,105 in the same period last year. Many of these fires appear to be arson.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/27/2024
Resolutions:
1km (403.7 KB), 500m (1.2 MB), 250m (3.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
A layer of smothering smoke sullied the skies east of the Andes, blanketing Bolivia and much of Brazil in a thick gray haze in late August 2024. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of the region on August 27.
In this section of Brazil and in Bolivia, as in many parts of the world, fire is used as a tool for management of agricultural land or, less commonly, to manage wildland. The goal of such fires can be to open new land for cropping, renew pastureland, clear cropland, prepare a field for planting, or to use small fires to reduce fuel loads. In this region, the fire season typically starts in July and lasts for about 15 weeks.
Significant damage is done, even with controlled burns, especially when fire is used to destroy critical rainforest to render the land accessible for commercial use (also known as slash-and-burn agriculture). Deliberately set fires can easily slip out of control and create extremely destructive large wildfires that destroy important forests and pump dangerous levels of smoke into the air.
Both Bolivia and Brazil have sweltered under severe heatwaves and are facing drought conditions that have left vegetation parched—critical factors creating extreme risk of wildfires. While most of the fires seen in this image (each marked in red) may be traditional agricultural fires, far too many are out-of-control wildfires. On July 25, Reuters reported that the Bolivian department of Santa Cruz had declared a state of emergency through the end the year due to climatic changes, which included drought, extreme temperatures, forest fires, among other events.
A United Nations report, published on Relief Web on August 27, stated that 12 municipalities in Bolivia have declared themselves in disaster and 3 in emergency due to forest fires. A total of 40 municipalities have been affected, with more than 75,000 people impacted, including more than 300 who have been evacuated due to fire. Two people are listed as having died. As of August 27, 43 active fires were reported, with more than 1,975,929 hectares burnt.
Brazil has also been severely affected by wildfire, with many media reports of citizens stating they are suffering respiratory distress, coughing, and burning eyes due to wildfire smoke. The state of São Paulo has been particularly hard hit, with fires detected by the National Institute for Space Research (INPE) in the month of August higher than in any August since it started collecting data in 1998. According to an article by BBC, INPE has registered 5,281 fires so far in August, compared with 1,105 in the same period last year. Many of these fires appear to be arson.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/27/2024
Resolutions:
1km (403.7 KB), 500m (1.2 MB), 250m (3.6 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
