These hundreds of fires burning in the Democratic Republic of Congo in central Africa are probably agricultural fires set by locals to prepare land for cultivation or grazing. At upper right, Lake Tanganyika marks the border between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Tanzania. This image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on May 20, 2002.
Please note that the high-resolution scene provided here is 500 meters per pixel. For a copy of the scene at the sensor's fullest resolution, visit the MODIS Rapid Response Image Gallery.
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
