In late August, the tropical savannas of northern Australia are drying out as the cool dry season progresses, and both natural and human-set (natural resource management) fires are common. This image of parts of Western Australia and Northern Territory shows scores of fires (red dots) burning across the Kimberley Plateau and Arnhem Land on August 31, 2006. Aboriginal tribes have used fire to maintain plant and animal communities in the region’s tropical savannas for centuries. Australian scientists are working with Aborigines to figure out how to integrate traditional knowledge with modern natural resource management techniques.
The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides images of all of Australia at additional resolutions through a clickable map.
References & Resources
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center
