Widespread agricultural burning continues throughout central Africa, and smoke and fires were detected by NASA's Aqua satellite. Most of the fires were burning in the Central African Republic, southern Chad, southwestern Sudan and the northwestern corner of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument that flies aboard NASA's Aqua satellite captured an image of smoke and fires burning in central Africa on Dec. 19 at 1205 UTC (7:05 a.m. EST/U.S.). The multiple red pixels are heat signatures (red) detected by MODIS. The smoke appears to be a light brown color.
Image Credit: NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team/Jeff Schmaltz
Text: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/Rob Gutro