Smoke and Fire in South Africa

10:25 a.m. Local Time
2:40 p.m. Local Time

At 10:25 a.m. local time (08:25 Universal Time) on April 29, 2017, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite acquired this natural-color image (first) of smoke streaming south from bush fires north of Mossel Bay. When the MODIS on Aqua captured an image (second) in the afternoon, winds had shifted and smoke was headed in the direction of Cape Agulhas. The red hot spots are areas where the thermal bands on the sensors detected temperatures higher than normal.

NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS Rapid Response. Caption by Adam Voiland.