Images
July 7, 2023 - Agricultural Fire in Africa
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Many hundreds of fires dotted central Africa in early June 2023. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image spanning the continent from Lake Tanganyika to the Pacific Ocean. Each red “hot spot” marks an area of actively burning fire, and they are abundant in Zambia (east), Democratic Republic of Congo (north and central), and Angola (west).
The widespread nature of the fires, their location, and the time of year all suggest that people are intentionally setting most of these fires for agricultural purposes. People in Africa have used fire for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years as an agricultural and land management tool. In the dry season, they set fires to clear brush and dead vegetation from farm and grazing land and to deal with household trash. The dry season in central Africa spans roughly May through September, with fire season peaking in July through August.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/5/2023
Resolutions:
1km (596.2 KB), 500m (1.8 MB), 250m (5.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Many hundreds of fires dotted central Africa in early June 2023. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image spanning the continent from Lake Tanganyika to the Pacific Ocean. Each red “hot spot” marks an area of actively burning fire, and they are abundant in Zambia (east), Democratic Republic of Congo (north and central), and Angola (west).
The widespread nature of the fires, their location, and the time of year all suggest that people are intentionally setting most of these fires for agricultural purposes. People in Africa have used fire for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years as an agricultural and land management tool. In the dry season, they set fires to clear brush and dead vegetation from farm and grazing land and to deal with household trash. The dry season in central Africa spans roughly May through September, with fire season peaking in July through August.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/5/2023
Resolutions:
1km (596.2 KB), 500m (1.8 MB), 250m (5.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
