Southern Mexico and northern Central America experience a dry season that runs from roughly February through May each year. During that time, fires are common, both intentional agriculture-related fires as well as accidental forest fires. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’ Terra satellite on May 7, 2008, shows scores of fires (locations marked in red) burning across the mountains of southern Mexico, the Yucatan Peninsula, and northern Guatemala. Fires are especially concentrated in the state of Chiapas, near the Mexico-Guatemala border.
The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response Team provides twice-daily images of the region in additional resolutions and formats.
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NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.
