Fires in Central South America

Fires in central South America have been intense in 2004, particularly along the border between Bolivia and Brazil. This MODIS image from October 7, 2004, shows fires and thick smoke over the region.

Scores of fires were filling the skies over Brazil and Bolivia with thick, yellowish smoke on October 7, 2004. This image of the region was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite, and places where the sensor detected actively burning fire are marked in red.

Fires are concentrated in several locations in the scene. North of image center, numerous fires cluster along the banks of the Cautário and Sau Domingos Rivers, which flow northeast to southwest toward the large wetlands of northern Bolivia. This line of fire detections is 200 kilometers long, which may put the northernmost portions inside the boundaries of the Pacaás-Novos National Park. South of image center, a large patch of pale greenish-tan earth extends outward from the city of Santa Cruz, which is located at the apex of the curve of the tightly folded Andes Mountains. West of that area a line of fires runs along the eastern edge of the mountains. Some of these fires appear to be burning in or very near the Carrasco and Amboró National Parks.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Aqua/MODIS

  • Start Date

    2004-10-07

  • Event Start Date

    2004-09-09

  • NH Image ID

    12503

  • NH Event ID

    10478

  • NH Posting Date

    2004-10-08