Fires in Sudan

Fires in Sudan and Neighboring Countries

16 December 2005

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Hundreds of fires were burning in eastern Africa south of the Sahara Desert in mid-December 2005. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer(MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image centered on southern Sudan on 15 December, and locations where the sensor detected actively burning fires are marked in red.

AQUA
15 December 2005
14:05 hrs UTC

click on image for a 250 m resolution

The fires are most abundant along the border of Sudan with the Central African Republic and Democratic Republic ofCongo. Most of these fires have probably been set by people intentionally for agriculturalpurposes. Though it is not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact onweather, climate, human health, and natural resources.

(source: EarthObservatory)

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