Fires in Amazonas and Africa detected from space

Last days we were flooded with news about fires in the Amazon. Indeed, wildfires are an big tragedies. But the tragedy is even worse that we think. Not only the Amazon but also the African forest is burning.

The satellite image obtained from NASA MODIS Fire and Thermal anomalies from August 21, 2019 shows the thermal anomalies and fires in South America and Africa.

There are massive confirmed fires in Bolivia, Brasil, Paraguay. Unconfirmed fires in Congo, Burundi, Madagascar.

How does MODIS detect fires?

The MODIS Fire and Thermal Anomalies layer shows active fire detections and thermal anomalies, such as volcanoes, and gas flares. Fires can be set naturally, such as by lightning, or by humans, whether intentionally or accidentally. 

Fire is often thought of as a menace and detriment to life, but in some ecosystems it is necessary to maintain the equilibrium, for example, some plants only release seeds under high temperatures that can only be achieved by fire, fires can also clear undergrowth and brush to help restore forests to good health, humans use fire in slash and burn agriculture, to clear away last year’s crop stubble and provide nutrients for the soil and to clear areas for pasture. 

The fire layer is useful for studying the spatial and temporal distribution of fire, to locate persistent hot spots such as volcanoes and gas flares, to locate the source of air pollution from smoke that may have adverse human health impacts.

What is MOD14?

The MOD14 product is used to generate all of the higher level fire products, but can also be used to identify fires and other thermal anomalies, such as volcanoes. Each swath of data is approximately 2,030 kilometers along track (long), and 2,300 kilometers across track (wide).

The MODIS Fire and Thermal Anomalies product is available from the Terra (MOD14) and Aqua (MYD14) satellites as well as a combined Terra and Aqua (MCD14) satellite product. 

The sensor resolution is 1 km, and the temporal resolution is daily. The thermal anomalies are represented as red points (approximate center of a 1 km pixel) in the Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS)/Worldview.