NASA Satellite Images Provide Clues to Understanding Fire across the Globe [Slide Show]
For two weeks in April the world was ablaze. NASA satellites documented these infernos, both wild and controlled, as they burned from the U.S. to Australia
![NASA Satellite Images Provide Clues to Understanding Fire across the Globe [Slide Show]](https://static.scientificamerican.com/sciam/cache/file/B02A4D2C-AD3D-4572-AA3116863689860B.jpg?w=590&h=393)
NASA Satellite Images Provide Clues to Understanding Fire across the Globe [Slide Show]
- INDOCHINA: Farmers in Burma (aka Myanmar) rely on slash-and-burn, or shifting, cultivation that involves setting fire to areas of forest to transform them into fields for crops. The smoke from shifting cultivation, as seen in this image, is extensive... NASA Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC
- INDIA AND NEPAL: India is one of the world’s biggest producers of wheat and rice, second only to China. The majority of its population depends on agriculture for its livelihood. Many of the fires in this photograph of India and Nepal (fires appear as red dots) were set for agricultural purposes... NASA Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC
- UNITED STATES: For the past 25 years the amount of U.S. land burned each year has risen. That trend is likely to continue: Using NASA satellite data and climate models, scientists now project that drier conditions will most likely increase fire activity across the U.S... NASA Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC
- AUSTRALIA: Victoria, Australia’s most densely populated state, is dotted with national parks. These large areas of vegetation have been a source of major local concern since wildfires, or bush fires, began occurring there in the 19th century... NASA Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC
