Fires in Mato Grosso State, Brazil

  • Credit

    Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA/GSFC

In the Mato Grosso region of Brazil, fire is a major cause of deforestation. Slash and burn agriculture is used to clear tropical forests for farming and ranching, and this MODIS image from May 30, 2002, shows the resulting transformation and fragmentation of the landscape that results. A road cuts up through the intact forests in the north.

Metadata

  • Sensor

    Terra/MODIS

  • Visualization Date

    2002-06-03