Fires in Africa

Fires in North-Central Africa

8 January 2007

Seasonal agricultural burning in the Saheland tropical savannas of central Africa was widespread on 5 January 2007, whenthe Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed overheadand captured this image. At this time of year, people burn crop and grazinglands to prepare for new plantings and stimulate new growth. Hundreds of activefires (marked in red) were detected by the sensor beneath a veil of tan-coloredhaze. Some of the haze may be smoke, but much of it is dust blowing in from the BodeleDepression, northeast of Lake Chad (just visible as a green blur at the topof the image). Though it is not necessarily immediately hazardous, suchlarge-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health,and natural resources.

AQUA
5 January 2007

The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters perpixel.

(source: EarthObservatory).