A dramatic increase in fire activity occurs over the course of the day during the biomass burning season in Southeast Asia. Like other large-scale burning activity linked to human activities, the fire patterns in Southeast Asia have a diurnal cycle, being lowest in the morning and increasing throughout the course of the day as human agricultural activities increase. In many parts of the world, fire is a precursor to farming and grazing. This true-color Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image from the Aqua satellite on March 7, 2003, shows scores of fires marked with red dots. Countries shown are (west to east) Bangladesh, India, and Myanmar; and (top right to bottom) China, Laos, and Thailand. Compare this image to a morning image of the same region and notice the decreased fire activity.
The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters.
References & Resources
Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC
