In western Africa, Sierra Leone is deep into its dry season, which typically runs from December through March. When the Aqua satellite passed over the region on March 20, 2006, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) collected this image and detected scores of fires burning across the region. The fires are probably agricultural fires that people are using to prepare farm and grazing land for the upcoming growing season. Although such fires are not necessarily immediately hazardous, they can degrade natural resources if people burn an area too frequently. They can also cause air quality problems.

The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions.

NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center