Fires in Africa
Fires in West Africa
2 March 2007
The following MODIS scenes are showing wide spread burning activities in WestAfrica on 1 March 2007.
These scenes show the daily fire cycle in Africa. The left scenewas captured during the day, showing increased burning activities which decreasein the night as can be seen on the right image.
The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250meters per pixel.
(Source: MODIS)
TERRA 1 March 2007
Many countries are in the middle of the season for bush fires. For example,in Senegal the season extends from October to May, withmost of the fires occurring in the south and south-east of the country, notablythe regions of Tambacounda, Kolda, Ziguinchor, Louga and Matam.
Over 2005 and 2006 more than 400,000 hectares were affected in the course of anunusually severe series of fires. Almost a tenth of the southern Linguèreregion was burnt, and more than nine percent of the Bakel area. Several smalleroutbreaks were also documented.
People often start fires in an effort to clear land of bush, so that theterritory can be used for farming. This enables them to avoid the laborious taskof clearing manually.
Though it is not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burningcan have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and naturalresources.
For background information on the Fire Situation in Africa see:
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IFFN Country Reports on West African countries
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The South African Working on Fire Programme
