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In southern Mexico, numerous fires were burning in the area between Lake Cuitzeo in the state of Michoacán and the Sierra Madre del Sur in the state of Guerrero on April 26, 2006. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured this image along with detections of actively burning fires (marked in red). Although MODIS cannot determine the cause of the fires it detects, this time of year is near the end of the region’s dry season, a time when people set agricultural fires to prepare for the upcoming growing season. However, accidental fires can also occur in the dry conditions.
The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions.
References & Resources
NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center
