September 6, 2021 - Smoke Shrouds South-Central Africa
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Fires in Africa
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A thick shroud of smoke covered much of southern Central Africa in
early September 2021.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board
NASA’s Terra satellite on September 2. The countries seen in the image
include, starting in the northwest and moving eastward Angola, Zambia,
and Mozambique. South of those countries are northern Namibia,
Botswana, and Zimbabwe.
The smoke rises from many hundreds of fires burning across the green
vegetation of the African savanna. In this location at this time of
year, the smoke most likely is the result of the agricultural burning
season. During the burning season, people use fire to clear brush and
cropland, to drive livestock and game, and to renew pasture grasses.
While the burning season typically peaks it August, a high level of
fire often continues well into September. Although using fire for
agricultural management on a small scale is not immediately
hazardous—as long as the fire remains contained—but large-scale burning
can have a strong impact on weather, climate, natural resources and on
the health of humans and livestock.
Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 9/2/2021
Resolutions: 1km (333.1 KB), 500m (1.7 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=2021-09-06
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