On April 21, 2004, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite captured this image of southern Mexico and northern Central America showing scattered fire activity across the region. The scene is centered on northern Guatemala, with the southern Mexico state of Chiapas to the left and the country of Belize to the right. At bottom right in the scene is northern Honduras, where smoke appears to have pooled in dips in the mountainous terrain. Active fires detected by MODIS have been marked in yellow with red outlines.
The widespread nature of the fires and the time of year (spring growing season) suggests 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.
Image by Earth Observatory staff, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC
