On October 30, 2015, the Visible Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of fires burning in the Indian state of Punjab. Red outlines indicate hot spots where the sensor detected unusually warm surface temperatures generally associated with fires. Thick plumes of smoke drifted from the hot spots.
The smoke likely stemmed primarily from agricultural fires. Farmers often set fire to their fields to clear them before the growing season, which in Punjab resumes in November.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response using Suomi NPP data. Caption by Kathryn Hansen.
