Patches of black, scorched earth and pale gray plumes of smoke surround the Okavango Delta in this natural color image from October 15, 2010. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired the image of Botswana. Red boxes outline active fires on the edges of the newly burned land. Since unnaturally straight lines define the burned land, it is likely that at least some of the large fires were intentionally set to manage vegetation.
The large image is the highest-resolution version of the image. The image is available in additional resolutions from the MODIS Rapid Response System.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
