September 21, 2014 - Fires and smoke in southern New Guinea

Fires and smoke in southern New Guinea

Fires burned across southern New Guinea in mid-September, 2014. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on September 11 as it passed over the region.

Red hotspots speckle the green landscape, with clusters especially thick both east and west of the border between Papua, Indonesia (west) and Papua New Guinea. Thick smoke rises from these fires and is blown northwest by strong winds. Most of the rivers appear milky brown, indicating that the waters are filled with sediment. Sediment billows off the coast, tinting the waters of the Arafura Sea first a muddy tan, then lightens as it sinks. To the southwest, a blue swirl likely represents a bloom of phytoplankton.

The widespread nature of these fires suggests that they are likely agricultural in origin. Fire is traditionally used to clear land for crops or to renew pasturage. While there are short-term benefits to this method, such as a brief increase in fertility from the ash and opening fresh land, such methods increase health risks from smoke inhalation, and long-term infertility of soils.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 9/11/2014
Resolutions: 1km ( B), 500m ( B), 250m ( B)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC