Start Date: End Date: Published Date Data Date
Data acquired September 25 - 25, 2002 850 x 1100 310 KB - JPEG
Data acquired September 25 - 25, 2002 1700 x 2200 995 KB - JPEG
Data acquired September 25 - 25, 2002 3400 x 4400 3 MB - JPEG
Data acquired September 25 - 25, 2002 6800 x 8800 8 MB - JPEG
Even for a region that sees a lot fires during the agricultural season, this scene seems to reveal an exceptional number of fires for countries from east-central to southern Africa. This true-color image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on September 25, 2002. Hundreds of fire detections are indicated by red dots. In the top center of the image is Lake Malawi, which is bounded on the west by Malawi, on the northeast by Tanzania, and on the southeast by Mozambique. Other countries visible in the image are (north-south along left edge) Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Republic of South Africa, and Swaziland (bottom center). Agricultural fires have been part of the ecological cycles in Africa for perhaps thousands of years, used to clear land and regenerate pasture. Scientists are studying these cycles to assess their impact on air quality, global warming, and ecosystem change.
Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC
Published September 30, 2002 Data acquired September 25 - 25, 2002