Fires in West Africa

This true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer. The image of  fires in West Africa was captured by the Aqua satellite on November 11, 2002. Therefore the Countires shown are (clockwise from upper left) Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina, Cote D’ Ivoire, Sierra Leone, Guinea, and Guinea Bissau. Also At upper right a large area of wetlands along the Niger River makes a green splash against the southern reaches of the Sahara Desert. The country spreads rapidly of fires during this season of storms and wildfire. Although it is a dry heat and very common for the fires to spread the land along the coast is beautiful and there is many other landscapes.

The tans and oranges of the Sahara fade into soft greens where the Sahel begins. Therefore farther south, the Sahel transitions to the savannas, which appear darker green. Fires in West Africa are sacttered across the country. Also Scores of fires (marked with red dots) were burning throughout the region; these fires, part of the annual burning cycle of the continent, are largely agricultural in purpose, though sometimes burns intended only to clear land for planting crops escape control and spread as wildfires.

Credit: Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC