Pale clouds of dust hover above the Bodele Depression in central North Africa near lake Chad on January 3, 2005. The lake appears to be little more than a small pool of open water surrounded by green vegetation that contrasts sharply with the surrounding arid terrain. The dust stretches southward into a region of transitional vegetation between the Sahara Desert to the north and the tropical savannas in the bottom of the image. This zone of transition is called the Sahel, and it is very sensitive to desertification created by overgrazing of livestock.
In the Sahel and savannas, scores of fires were burning and have been marked with red dots in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) from NASA’s Terra satellite. The widespread nature of the fires, their location, and the time of year suggest that these fires are being set intentionally for agricultural purposes. Though not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources.
NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team.
