June 24, 2022 - Thousands of Fires in Central Africa

Fires in DRC, Angola and Zambia
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Many thousands of fires burned across Central Africa in late June 2022.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image showing the
landscape of Democratic Republic of Congo (north), Angola (southwest),
and Zambia (southeast) speckled with red hot spots. A gray pall,
created by airborne smoke, covers most of the region and is heaviest in
the northeast.

These hot spots mark areas 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.

While it is not possible to know the cause of a fire from a satellite
image, the widespread nature, location, and time of year makes it
likely that these fires are agricultural. Fire is an integral part of
traditional agricultural practices used in many parts of the world,
including Central Africa. Farmers use fire to clear land for new
cropland or pasture, to freshen existing pasture, and to burn debris
from cropland to prepare for new planting. This practice is both
inexpensive and low tech, making it available to small farmers.
Unfortunately, fire generates smoke which can be hazardous to the
health of humans and animals. Agricultural fires also can escape
containment and become wildfires, which can consume vast amounts of
acreage.

The peak fire season in Democratic Republic of the Congo, Angola, and
Zambia, the peak fire season typically begins in early June and lasts
around 15 weeks.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 6/22/2022
Resolutions: 1km (191.2 KB), 500m (685.3 KB), 250m (2.3 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=2022-06-24

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