tagged: Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, NASA, Quest, Quest Interactive, Quest Science magazine, Science magazine

Fires in the Central African Republic

Posted by Bridget in Space

Widespread agricultural burning is seen occurring in the Central African Republic and was captured by a NASA satellite.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of fires and smoke occurring in the Central African Republic on 25 January 2012 at 1210 UTC (7:10 a.m. EST). The fires are marked in red and smoke from the fires is a light brown in colour, while clouds appear in white. The fires appear from north to south. The geography of the Central African Republic includes savannas in the north and an equatorial forest zone in the south.

The Central African Republic is land-locked in the middle of the African continent. Bordering the country to the south is the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Republic of the Congo. To the west is the country of Cameroon, which also has some agricultural fires. Chad lies to the north, Sudan to the northeast and South Sudan in the east. According to Wikipedia, about 4.4 million people lived in the country as of 2008.

(NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Rob Gutro)

Source: NASA