File:Thousands of Fires in Central Africa (MODIS 2022-06-24).jpg

From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Original file(5,662 × 4,485 pixels, file size: 2.33 MB, MIME type: image/jpeg)

Captions

Captions

Add a one-line explanation of what this file represents

Summary[edit]

Description
English: Many thousands of fires burned across Central Africa in late June 2022. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image showing the landscape of Democratic Republic of Congo (north), Angola (southwest), and Zambia (southeast) speckled with red hot spots. A gray pall, created by airborne smoke, covers most of the region and is heaviest in the northeast.

These hot spots mark areas where the thermal bands on the MODIS instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for actively burning fire.

While it is not possible to know the cause of a fire from a satellite image, the widespread nature, location, and time of year makes it likely that these fires are agricultural. Fire is an integral part of traditional agricultural practices used in many parts of the world, including Central Africa. Farmers use fire to clear land for new cropland or pasture, to freshen existing pasture, and to burn debris from cropland to prepare for new planting. This practice is both inexpensive and low tech, making it available to small farmers. Unfortunately, fire generates smoke which can be hazardous to the health of humans and animals. Agricultural fires also can escape containment and become wildfires, which can consume vast amounts of acreage.

The peak fire season in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, and Zambia, the peak fire season typically begins in early June and lasts around 15 weeks.
Date Taken on 22 June 2022
Source

Thousands of Fires in Central Africa (direct link)

This image or video was catalogued by Goddard Space Flight Center of the United States National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) under Photo ID: 2022-06-24.

This tag does not indicate the copyright status of the attached work. A normal copyright tag is still required. See Commons:Licensing.
Other languages:
Author MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
This media is a product of the
Terra mission
Credit and attribution belongs to the mission team, if not already specified in the "author" row

Licensing[edit]

Public domain This file is in the public domain in the United States because it was solely created by NASA. NASA copyright policy states that "NASA material is not protected by copyright unless noted". (See Template:PD-USGov, NASA copyright policy page or JPL Image Use Policy.)
Warnings:

File history

Click on a date/time to view the file as it appeared at that time.

Date/TimeThumbnailDimensionsUserComment
current21:59, 9 January 2024Thumbnail for version as of 21:59, 9 January 20245,662 × 4,485 (2.33 MB)OptimusPrimeBot (talk | contribs)#Spacemedia - Upload of http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/images/image06242022_250m.jpg via Commons:Spacemedia

There are no pages that use this file.