Fires on Melville Island
Fires in Mozambique and Tanzania
5October 2006
East of where Lake Malawi fills one of the many cracks in the earth that mark Africas Great Rift Valley, scores of fires were burning on1 October 2006. The winds at the time of this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite were pushing smokesouthwest, creating a grayish haze over the western part of the image.
AQUA
1 October 2006
The fires are scattered across southern Tanzania and northern Mozambique, places where the peak seasonal burning typically occurs in September or October. African savanna fires are mostly caused by humans for agricultural activities such as clearing pasture or cropland or driving game. Although the fires are not necessarily immediately hazardous, the frequency and wide extent of the burning can have strong influence on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources.
(source: EarthObservatory)
For background information on the Fire Situation in Africa see:
