In early August 2004, widespread agricultural fires continued to dot the southern Africa landscape. This image of the region between Lake Victoria (top right) and Lake Malawi (bottom right) shows thousands of fires (red dots) detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on August 4, 2004.
The widespread nature of the fires and the time of year suggest that these fires are being set intentionally for agricultural purposes. Though not necessarily hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources.
Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC
