Fires in East Central Africa

Thousands of fires were burning across east-central Africa on July 10, 2003.

Thousands of fires burn across east-central Africa on July 8, 2003. Detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite, the fires are spread over thousands of square kilometers in Angola (bottom left), Zambia (bottom center), Democratic Republic of Congo (most of the left half of the image), and Tanzania (most of the right half). In the top right corner is Lake Victoria, and to its southwest is Lake Tanganyika. Fires are a commonly used agricultural tool in Africa, as farmers and ranchers clear farmland and renew pasture.

The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Aqua/MODIS
  • Start Date

    2003-07-08
  • Event Start Date

    2003-07-08
  • NH Image ID

    10790
  • NH Event ID

    9184
  • NH Posting Date

    2003-07-11