File:Fires in northwest India (MODIS 2015-05-19).jpg

English: Dozens of fires burned in northwest India and Pakistan in early May, 2015. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA�s Terra satellite captured this true-color image on May 9 as it passed over the region.

Actively burning fires are marked with red dots, and a blue-gray haze from the smoke hangs over the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains. To the north of the Himalayas the air is clear. Pakistan has fewer fires, and lies to the west of the black borderline; India lies to the east. The location of the fires as well as the time of year suggests that most of these fires are agricultural in origin.

The highest concentration of fires is located in the state of Punjab, India, which sits in the far northeast corner and along the border with Pakistan. Punjab occupies less than two percent of the area of the country, and yet it produces about two-thirds of the food grains in India. Wheat and rice are the two most commonly grown food crops. Farmers use fire to clear fields and get them ready for new plantings. Crop residues become a soil-fertilizing ash, and burning destroys some crop pests. Although the fires are not necessarily immediately hazardous, such widespread burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources.