Fires in Southeast Asia are becoming more widespread. This true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Aqua satellite on January 17, 2003, shows fires marked in red. Cambodia is in the image center, Thailand is at left, while Vietnam is at right. The Mekong Rivers cuts down through Cambodia in a brown line.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
The intense biomass burning in Southeast Asia, ongoing for the last several months, has released high levels of carbon monoxide into the atmosphere over the region, as measured by the Terra MOPITT sensor from April 3-13, 2003.