Fires in Africa
Fires in Africa
2 January 2009
Fires in Western Africa
Fires burned from Senegal to Ghana at the end of 2008. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite took this picture on 29 December 2008. In this image, the red dots indicate hotspotsthermal anomalies associated with wildfires or agricultural fires. The greatest concentration of hotspots in this image stretches from Guinea through the Ivory Coast, although numerous fires also burn on either side of this thick fire band.
Haze hovers over the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Guinea, and some of the haze might result from dust blown from the Bodele Depression, as well as smoke from the fires shown in this image.
AQUA
29 December 2008
(source: earth observatory)
Fires in Central Africa
In late December 2008, fires burned throughout central Africa. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite captured this image on 29 December 2008. In this image, the red dots indicate hotspotsthermal anomalies associated with wildfires or agricultural fires. In some areas, especially the southwestern Central African Republic, the hotspots are so numerous they almost converge to form a mass of red. Fires also appear in the west, in Nigeria and Cameroon, and in the north, in Chad. Multiple fires also burn along the northern perimeter of Lake Chad.
Residents may set fires to facilitate hunting (by driving game), or to clear land for pasture or agriculture. On a small scale, fires do not necessarily have a serious environmental consequences, but multiple fires can affect air quality and even climate.
Haze appears around the fringes of this image. Besides smoke from the fires, some of the haze may result from dust blown from the Bodele Depression northeast of Lake Chad.
AQUA
29 December 2008
(source: earth observatory)
