Fires in Southeast Asia

Fires in Southeast Asia

On March 7, 2003, the Terra satellite’s morning overpass of Southeast Asia revealed smoke snaking along ridges and tucked into low-lying areas. Scattered fires were detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and are marked with red dots. Countries shown are (west to east) Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar; and (top right to bottom) China, Laos, and Thailand. Compare this image to an afternoon image of the same region and notice the increased fire activity.

The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.

Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC