Northern Africa Fire Season
Northern Africa Fire Season
1 December 2006
Fires in Sudan and Ethiopia
Scores of fires were burning in Sudan and Ethiopia on November 27, 2006, whenthe Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite passed overheadand captured this image. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires aremarked in red. Deep green vegetation dominates the bottom of the scene where thelarge Sudd Wetlands and other smaller marshy areas have enough water to flourishamid the regions tropical savannas. Farther north, the vegetation transitionsto sparser savanna, with grasses and scattered shrubs. This ecologically fragileregion, known as the Sahel, is an intermediate zone between the wetter savannasand the Sahara Desert to the north. Agricultural fires are widespread in theregion each year at this time. Although such fires are not necessarilyimmediately hazardous, they can have a strong influence on climate, human health,and natural resources.
AQUA 29 November 2006
The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 500meters per pixel.
Fires in Niger, Chad, Central African Republic, Cameroon,and Nigeria
The agricultural fire season was underway in northern Africa inlate November 2006. Each year around this time, farmers and people who raiselivestock set fires across the region to clear dead vegetation and return itsnutrients to the soil, preparing farmland for the next seasons crops andpreparing grazing lands for new growth of pasture grasses. This photo-like imagefrom the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite on November 27shows scores of active fires (marked in red) burning across several countries ofnorth-central Africa: (clockwise from top left) Niger, Chad, Central AfricanRepublic, Cameroon, and Nigeria. Although these fires are not necessarilyimmediately hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact onweather, climate, human health, and natural resources.
AQUA
27 November 2006
The image also illustrates the transition of vegetation from the Sahelasemi-arid, sparse savanna landscape that extends roughly across the latitudebelt of Lake Chadto the much wetter, and more lush savannas and woodlands ofthe Guinea zone in the south. Only a faint tinge of green marks the Sahel in thetop part of the image. Vegetation becomes a deeper green farther to the southwhere annual rainfall is much more abundant.
The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 500meters per pixel.
(source: EarthObservatory).
