Fires in East and Central Africa

Fires in Southern Africa

14 July 2004

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Fires were burning across southern Africa  on 13 July 2004. The widespread nature of the fires and the time of year indicates that these fires are being set intentionally for agricultural purposes. Though not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burning—and the resulting smoke—can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. The following images were captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).

13 July 2004
Terra Satellite

09:15 UTC

(Image based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC)

13 July 2004
Aqua Satellite

12:00 UTC

(Image based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC)

13 July 2004
Aqua Satellite

12:05 UTC

(Image based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC)

Agricultural burning season was well underway in central and east Africa as of July13,2004, when these images were captured by the ModerateResolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aquasatellite.

Carbon Monoxide from African Fires

Widespread fires in West Central Africa produced high levels of pollution that drifted westward over the Atlantic Ocean in June 2004. The false-color image above shows the measure of carbon monoxide in the lower atmosphere averaged for the entire month of June 2004. Red and yellow indicate high carbon monoxide levels, while light and dark blue hues represent low values (the unit here is molecules of carbon monoxide per square centimeter). Carbon monoxide is a good tracer of pollution since it is produced as a by-product of the combustion associated with wildfires and agricultural fires.
The data for this image were collected by the Measurements Of Pollution In The Troposphere (MOPITT) instrument aboard NASA’s Terra satellite.
NASA image by Jesse Allen using data courtesy of NCAR/UCAR MOPITT instrument team
Source: Earthobservatory

For background information on theFire Situation in Africa see:

• RegionalWildland Fire Networks (AfriFireNet) and

• IFFN Country Reports on CentralAfrican countries

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