Fires in East and Central Africa
Fires in Southern Africa
06 August 2004
Fires were burning across southern Africa in early August 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 burningand the resulting smokecan have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. The following images were captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS).
Fires in Southeastern Africa
In early August 2004, widespread agricultural fires continued to dot the southern Africa landscape. This image of the region between Lake Victoria (top right) and Lake Malawi (bottom right) shows thousands of fires (red dots) detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite on August 4, 2004.
The widespread nature of the fires and the time of year suggest that these fires are being set intentionally for agricultural purposes. Though not necessarily hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources.
Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC
Fires in Southeastern Africa
This Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from August 4, 2004, shows numerous fires (red dots) scattered across southeastern Africa, including aprts of Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Republic of South Africa. Areas were the MODIS detected fires are marked in red.
The widespread nature of the fires and the time of year suggests that these fires are being set intentionally for agricultural purposes. Though not necessarily hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources.
Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC
(Image based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC)
For background information on theFire Situation in Africa see:
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IFFN Country Reports on CentralAfrican countries
