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   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   August 28, 2022 - An Appalling Pall over the Amazon   
      
      Fires in Brazil   
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      A thick, gray blanket of smoke hung over the Amazon Rainforest in late   
      August 2022, pumped into the atmosphere by hundreds of fires burning in   
      Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. The Moderate Resolution Imaging   
      Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a   
      true-color image of fires and smoke on August 26.   
      
      Each red “hot spot” marks a location 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. Fires in the Amazon tend to peak in August and September,   
      which is near the end of the dry season. Fire is used to manage   
      agricultural land, and also widely used to destroy forest in this   
      region so that, once stripped of rainforest, the land can be used to   
      make profits in agriculture or industry. Areas that were deforested in   
      previous years are also at higher risk of severe wildfire, and the risk   
      of severe wildfire is greatest at the end of the dry season.   
      
      Deforestation in Brazil's Amazon rainforest has already reached a   
      record high at the end of June 2022, according to Brazilian government   
      data. The national space research agency, INPE estimated that 3,988   
      square km (1,540 square miles) were cleared in the first six months of   
      the year—an area roughly five times the size of New York City. That’s   
      the highest level of deforestation since record-keeping began in   
      mid-2015.   
      
      INPE was also quoted as reporting that on August 22, satellite   
      monitoring detected 3,358 fires in Brazil. This is the highest number   
      of fires in the Brazilian Amazon for any 24-hour period since September   
      2007. The article states, “The number was nearly triple that recorded   
      on the so-called "Day of Fire"—August 10, 2019—when farmers launched a   
      coordinated plan to burn huge amounts of felled rainforest in the   
      northern state of Para.”   
      
      And, of course, the Amazon Rainforest stretches over eight countries,   
      not just Brazil. Although deforestation is occurring at an increasing,   
      alarming, and appalling rate in Brazil, as this image demonstrates,   
      other countries are also destroying the Amazon Rainforest at a rapid   
      rate. Here we can see that copious fires and deforestation are also   
      occurring in Peru and Bolivia in August 2022.   
      
      Image Facts   
      Satellite:  Terra   
      Date Acquired: 8/26/2022   
      Resolutions:  1km (1.9 MB),  500m (4.2 MB),   
      Bands Used: 1,4,3   
      Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC   
      
      
      
   https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-08-28   
       
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