Fires in Africa
Fires in Africa
9 March 2007
Lake Chad Fires
On 5 March 2007, the Moderate Resolution ImagingSpectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aquasatellite captured two events in northern Africa: a dust storm from themountain-rimmed Bodele Depression, and fires around the fringes of Lake Chad.
Lake Chad has been steadilyshrinking for decades, the latest fires simply providing more evidence ofhow dry the area has become. MODIS detects fires like these by finding areas ofanomalously warm surface temperatures.
AQUA
5 March 2007
This image also shows the typical pale beige dual dust plumesblowing out of the valley, as well as hotspotsaround the lake.
Despite the irritation the dust may cause near its origin, it plays animportant role in sustaininglife in the Amazon. Most of the mineral dust fertilizing Amazonian soiloriginates in the Bodele Depression.
The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of250 meters per pixel.
(source: EarthObservatory)
