Fires across Southern Africa

Scores of fires, marked in red, blaze across Southern Africa in this image pair, acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on July 11, 2004. The widespread nature of the fires suggests that they were probably started to manage land for agriculture. Though likely harmless in and of themselves, the fires are collectively emitting thick haze, which can be a health hazard. The haze can be seen hovering over the land in the true-color image. The false color image shows scars over land that has been burned in the recent past. The scars are a deep reddish brown, fading into a light brown as time passes. Vegetation is bright green, and clouds are light blue in the false color image.

A large concentration of fires are in Angola, image center and left. Across the top are Congo (left) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (right). Zambia sits in the lower right corner of the image.

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Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

Published July 12, 2004
Data acquired July 11, 2004

Source:

Aqua > MODIS

Collections:

MODIS Rapid Response

Visible Earth