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February 24, 2023 - Burn Scars in Iberá National Park, Argentina
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Fires blazed through a protected wilderness in northeastern Argentina in February 2023. Home to jaguars, capybaras, and giant anteaters, Iberá National Park has reportedly been burning since late December 2022, and continued to burn as of February 22, 2023.
On February 22, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured a false-color image showing a massive burn scar, which appears brick-red against the bright green unburned vegetation, in and near Iberá National Park. Orange and yellow, representing actively burning fire, can be seen along the southern and south-eastern edge of the burn scar. The second MODIS Terra image, acquired on February 12, shows two much smaller burn scars in the same area, and comparing the two shows the astounding growth of the fire in just ten days. The waterway to the north is the Paraná River.
Iberá National Park is a protected area of wetlands and grasslands established in 2018 with land acquired by conservation groups and then donated to the government of Argentina. Encompassing 1,370 square kilometers (530 square miles) of the Corrientes region, the park is part of a “rewilding” program which aims to reintroduce keystone species to the oasis such as jaguars and capybaras that have previously been driven away by hunting, ranching, and other human activities.
This area of Argentina is no stranger to fires. Last year more than 520,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) were burned in the Corrientes region and surrounding provinces. In 2022 and so far in 2023, fire activity has been unusually high in the region, according to Mark Parrington, senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). The CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System uses active fire data from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors to estimate emissions of vegetation fires which are then used to forecast the air quality impacts of biomass burning.
“For the second year in a row Corrientes province is experiencing much higher fire activity than experienced over the last two decades,” Parrington said. “So far this year, the fires seem to be much more localized around the Iberá wetlands compared to more widespread fires across northern Argentina and southern Paraguay in 2022.”
Although the origin of the fires is not clear, prolonged drought and high temperatures in the region have contributed to the ongoing burning. On February 13, Argentina’s National Meteorological Service issued high-temperature warnings, as temperatures reached around 40° C (104° F) in parts of central and northern Argentina. This is already the eighth heatwave in the country this summer, according to the national meteorological service. As the sweltering heat moved from southern Argentina to the north over the course of February, it broke temperature records in 27 Argentine cities.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 2/22/2023
Resolutions:
1km (148.9 KB), 500m (352.4 KB), 250m (197.7 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Fires blazed through a protected wilderness in northeastern Argentina in February 2023. Home to jaguars, capybaras, and giant anteaters, Iberá National Park has reportedly been burning since late December 2022, and continued to burn as of February 22, 2023.
On February 22, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured a false-color image showing a massive burn scar, which appears brick-red against the bright green unburned vegetation, in and near Iberá National Park. Orange and yellow, representing actively burning fire, can be seen along the southern and south-eastern edge of the burn scar. The second MODIS Terra image, acquired on February 12, shows two much smaller burn scars in the same area, and comparing the two shows the astounding growth of the fire in just ten days. The waterway to the north is the Paraná River.
Iberá National Park is a protected area of wetlands and grasslands established in 2018 with land acquired by conservation groups and then donated to the government of Argentina. Encompassing 1,370 square kilometers (530 square miles) of the Corrientes region, the park is part of a “rewilding” program which aims to reintroduce keystone species to the oasis such as jaguars and capybaras that have previously been driven away by hunting, ranching, and other human activities.
This area of Argentina is no stranger to fires. Last year more than 520,000 hectares (1.3 million acres) were burned in the Corrientes region and surrounding provinces. In 2022 and so far in 2023, fire activity has been unusually high in the region, according to Mark Parrington, senior scientist at the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service (CAMS). The CAMS Global Fire Assimilation System uses active fire data from NASA's Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensors to estimate emissions of vegetation fires which are then used to forecast the air quality impacts of biomass burning.
“For the second year in a row Corrientes province is experiencing much higher fire activity than experienced over the last two decades,” Parrington said. “So far this year, the fires seem to be much more localized around the Iberá wetlands compared to more widespread fires across northern Argentina and southern Paraguay in 2022.”
Although the origin of the fires is not clear, prolonged drought and high temperatures in the region have contributed to the ongoing burning. On February 13, Argentina’s National Meteorological Service issued high-temperature warnings, as temperatures reached around 40° C (104° F) in parts of central and northern Argentina. This is already the eighth heatwave in the country this summer, according to the national meteorological service. As the sweltering heat moved from southern Argentina to the north over the course of February, it broke temperature records in 27 Argentine cities.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Terra
Date Acquired: 2/22/2023
Resolutions:
1km (148.9 KB), 500m (352.4 KB), 250m (197.7 KB)
Bands Used: 7,2,1
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
