The agricultural burning season continued in central Africa in late June 2007. During the burning season, people use fire to clear brush and cropland, to drive livestock and game, and to renew pasture grasses. This image of fires in the heart of Africa was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on June 24, 2007. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires—hundreds of them—are marked with red dots. Though it is 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, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team.
