May 5, 2015 - Fires in Central America

Fires in Central America

On April 26, 2015, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image of smoke from fires in Central America. Hotspots with the signature of fires are outlined in red.

The cloud of smoke on the lower right comes from fires in Honduras, and rises from the heaviest cluster of hotspots. Fires also speckle the landscape in Mexico, Belize Guatemala, El Salvador and a few in western Nicaragua. The green patch of protected land in the center of the Yucatan Peninsula appears to lack detectable fire activity.

Recently published esearch has suggested that smoke from fires in Central America might contribute to the intensification of tornadoes in the United States.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 4/26/2015
Resolutions: 1km (365.3 KB), 500m (1.3 MB), 250m (3.1 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC