September 12, 2014 - Fires in southeastern Africa

Fires in southeastern Africa

Southern Africa is entering what is described by the Volunteer Wildfire Services of South Africa as "Cape Fire Season." In the country of South Africa, the Eastern Cape provincial government warned residents in certain parts of the province on August 25 of strong winds and veld fires. A high veld fire danger rating was expected in the north-western interior and along the coast in the Great Kei and Mnquma area. Strong winds often occurred along coastal regions, and during thunderstorms. The thunderstorms bring lightning strikes and subsequent fire and the wind serves to spread the fire from one place to another. The risk of veld fires was linked to prolonged periods of little or no rain, coupled with warm, dry winds. Residents were also warned not to throw bottles in the veld as they can magnify the sun’s rays and start fires. The fire danger map for South Africa, found at http://www.weathersa.co.za/home/fire-index showed that for August 27 most of the region at Very Dangerous to Extremely Dangerous levels.

This true-color satellite image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on August 26, 2014. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red.

In this image, heavy clusters of fires are located in northern and coastal South Africa as well as the greener land of Mozambique to the north. Fires are also heavy in small, nearly circular Swaziland between the two countries. Lesotho, the roughly circular country surrounded by South Africa has relatively few fires. Red hot spots dot the landscape of Zimbabwe, to the northwest.

Zimbabwe is by and large a savannah grassland country, with a few stretches of level, unforested grassy plains (steppes) here and there, plus some thick wooded sub-tropical forests in some regions. This type of typography makes veld fires spread more quickly as there is ample fuel for the fire across the grasslands. Veld fires which are dangerous to begin with, are also destroying farmland and making yearly food production difficult in this area as it takes time before the land can be tilled again.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 8/26/2014
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC