File:Fires in Argentina (MODIS 2017-01-04).jpg

English: Multiple fires scorched the vegetation in central Argentina in early January 2017. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on January 1, 2017.

Red hotspots mark areas where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high temperatures. When accompanied by typical smoke, as in this image, such hotspots are diagnostic for actively burning fires. The heaviest smoke pours from a cluster of fires burning close to Victorica, Argentina. Other large, smoky fires burn west and south of Bahia Blanca, accompanied by plumes that stretch more than 100 km (60 miles). Less smoky hotspots are located close to Rio Colorado.

The fires burn primarily in La Pampas Province and in croplands and agricultural lands in the region. While the location could be suggestive that these are agricultural fires, which are deliberately set to manage pastures and agricultural land, most agricultural fires remain relatively small. It is more likely many of these fires are wildfires, burning out of control. The fire season in the Pampas occurs during the dry season which occurs in the Southern Hemisphere’s spring and early summer (September through February).