MSGID: 1:317/3 63406955   
   PID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   TID: hpt/lnx 1.9.0-cur 2019-01-08   
   October 7, 2022 - Fires and Smoke in Africa   
      
      Africa   
       Tweet   
       Share   
      
      Many hundreds of late-dry-season fires speckled the landscape of   
      Southeast Africa and created a thick shroud of smoke in early October   
      2022. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on   
      board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the fiery   
      scene on October 6.   
      
      While it is not possible to discern, for certain, the cause of any   
      individual fire through satellite imagery, the location and number of   
      the fires, along with the time of year, strongly suggest these are   
      agricultural fires.   
      
      Traditional peoples in many cultures across the Earth have deliberately   
      set and managed fire as an aide in croplands and pasture for   
      hundreds—likely thousands—of years. Farmers set fires to clear stubble   
      from old crops and fertilize soil for new plantings, to renew grazing   
      land, to deal with trash, to remove brush, and to open new land for   
      farming purposes. In Southeast Africa, the dry season, which runs from   
      May to October, coincides with the fire season, although most fires   
      occur in September through October.   
      
      Each red “hot spot” in this image marks an area 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.   
      
      The majority of the clusters of fires are found in a broad circle   
      around Lake Malawi. Abundant fires are found in the following   
      countries, beginning in the north and moving clockwise around Lake   
      Malawi, which is the largest lake in the image: Tanzania, Mozambique,   
      Zambia, and—in the center of all of these countries and containing most   
      of the lake, the country of Malawi. Zimbabwe, located south of Zambia   
      and Mozambique, also contains dozens of fires.   
      
      Heavy smoke stretches westward to reach the South Atlantic Ocean. This   
      single image does not capture the entire swath of choking smoke, nor   
      all the fires that are partially hidden under the gray pall. However,   
      the NASA Worldview app permits a wider look at the entire width of   
      Africa—and all the smoke and active fires occurring in this dry season.   
      The see the larger view, simply click  here.   
      
      The NASA Worldview app provides a satellite's perspective of the planet   
      as it looks today and as it has in the past through daily satellite   
      images. Worldview is part of NASA’s Earth Observing System Data and   
      Information System. EOSDIS makes the agency's large repository of data   
      accessible and freely available to the public.   
      '   
      
      Image Facts   
      Satellite:  Aqua   
      Date Acquired: 10/6/2022   
      Resolutions:  1km (400.6 KB),  500m (1.3 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=2022-10-07   
       
   --- up 31 weeks, 4 days, 21 minutes   
    * Origin: -=> Castle Rock BBS <=- Now Husky HPT Powered! (1:317/3)   
   SEEN-BY: 15/0 106/201 114/705 123/120 153/7715 226/30 229/110 111   
   SEEN-BY: 229/112 113 317 400 426 428 470 664 700 292/854 298/25 305/3   
   SEEN-BY: 317/3 320/219 396/45   
   PATH: 317/3 229/426