Fires in Congo

Fires in Democratic Republic of Congo

16 April 2007

---

In northwestern Democratic Republic of Congo, in the country’s Equateurprovince, scores of fires were burning on 1 April 2007, when the ModerateResolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite passed overheadand captured this image. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires aremarked in red.

AQUA
1 April 2007

Fires were concentrated in the area north of the Congo River. This area isnorth of the equator, and it experiences its dry season roughly fromDecember-February each year. These fires likely indicate agriculturalpreparations for the upcoming wet (growing) season, which begins in April.Although it is not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burningcan have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and naturalresources.

The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of250 meters per pixel.

(source: EarthObservatory)

---