Images
July 10, 2025 - Fires in Central Africa
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Many hundreds of fires dotted the landscape of Central Africa on July 7, 2025, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image. Each red mark represents a “hot spot”, which is an area where the thermal bands on the MODIS image detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for actively burning fires.
While it’s not possible to know the cause of a fire from a satellite image, the time of year, the location, and the widespread pattern of this fire makes it very likely that most are fires that have been deliberately set to manage land. Fires of this nature are part of traditional agriculture in many parts of the world, including Central Africa. Fire can be an inexpensive to clear old crops, renew pastures, and prepare land for planting. Unfortunately, even small fires can create harmful smoke that can cause respiratory problems for people and animals. When large amounts of fires burn at the same time, effects of smoke in the atmosphere and on health can be significant across a large region.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/7/2025
Resolutions:
1km (385.3 KB), 500m (1.2 MB), 250m (3.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Many hundreds of fires dotted the landscape of Central Africa on July 7, 2025, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this true-color image. Each red mark represents a “hot spot”, which is an area where the thermal bands on the MODIS image detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots are diagnostic for actively burning fires.
While it’s not possible to know the cause of a fire from a satellite image, the time of year, the location, and the widespread pattern of this fire makes it very likely that most are fires that have been deliberately set to manage land. Fires of this nature are part of traditional agriculture in many parts of the world, including Central Africa. Fire can be an inexpensive to clear old crops, renew pastures, and prepare land for planting. Unfortunately, even small fires can create harmful smoke that can cause respiratory problems for people and animals. When large amounts of fires burn at the same time, effects of smoke in the atmosphere and on health can be significant across a large region.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 7/7/2025
Resolutions:
1km (385.3 KB), 500m (1.2 MB), 250m (3.4 MB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
