File:Fires in southwestern Africa (MODIS 2015-06-09).jpg

English: There seem to be more fires than land in this Aqua satellite image, at least in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (north) and Angola. The more arid, less vegetated, land in Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, from west to east in the south of the image, have few fires. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA�s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on May 23, 2015. Red dots indicate an area where the thermal detectors on the MODIS instrument recognized temperatures higher than background. When accompanied by plumes of smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for fire. Fire is often used as an inexpensive and rudimentary way to return nutrients to the soil and to clear the ground of unwanted plants. While fire helps enhance crops and grasses for pasture, the fires also produce smoke that degrades air quality.