In the northwestern corner of Guatemala, mostly intact tropical forests flank a wide swath of land that people have cleared for agriculture. During the dry season, which runs roughly from February-May, both accidental and intentional fires are common. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite from April 11, 2007, shows scores of fires (locations marked in red) burning in the agricultural areas of Guatemala and to the west, in the state of Chiapas, Mexico.
The large image provided above has a spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel, and it shows a wider part of Mexico, including the Yucatan Peninsula, and Central America. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images of the region in additional resolutions.
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center
