Dozens of fires were burning on Cuba on April 3, 2004, and were detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. The fire locations are marked in red. A few scattered fires were detected on the southern tip of Florida and on the Bahamas Islands as well. On Cuba, the widespread nature of the fires and the season suggests that these fires are being set intentionally for agricultural purposes. Though not necessarily hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources.
The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at
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Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC
