July 1, 2023 - Fires in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia

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A shroud of smoke covered Democratic Republic of Congo (north) and
Zambia (south) in late June 2023. On June 30 the Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) acquired a true-color image of the
source of the smoke—dozens of fires burning across the region.

Each red dot marks a location where the thermal bands on the MODIS
instrument detected high temperatures. When accompanied by typical
smoke, as in this image, such “hot spots” are diagnostic for actively
burning fire.

While it is not possible to know the cause of a fire from a satellite
image, the widespread nature of the fires, their location, and the time
of year all suggest that people are intentionally setting most of these
fires for agricultural purposes. Although not necessarily immediately
hazardous on a small scale, such large-scale burning can have a strong
impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 6/29/2023
Resolutions: 1km (358.2 KB), 500m (786.7 KB), 250m (483.9
KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-07-01

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