Fires in Northern Australia

Fires in Northern Australia

Along the coast of the Gulf of Carpentaria (top center), numerous large bushfires were burning in the tropical savannas and grasslands of northern Australia on October 22, 2004. October is a time of transitional climate in the region. The dry season is drawing to a close, and the rainy season is beginning fitfully. Fires can be started by lightning or by land managers seeking to burn off old vegetation. In this image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, actively burning fires have been marked with red dots.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team.