Across the grassy plains, known as the “Llanos,” that stretch across Venezuela and Columbia in northern South America, numerous fires (yellow) were detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra satellite on February 1, 2004. The area supports ranching and other agriculture, and many of these fires are probably intentional fires set by people for land management purposes. Though not necessarily hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. At bottom left, a pall of smoke hangs over the area, and a few scattered fires in the heart of the forests (deep green areas at right) could be related to deforestation.
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Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
