Across North Korea, numerous fires were active on April 16, 2004. The fires were detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite during its daytime overpass of the region, and their locations have been marked in orange in this image. Some of the fires have large smoke plumes that are mingling with a swath of haze coming over Bo Hai Bay from China. The Korean Peninsula is experiencing a warm, dry spring, and South Korea has issued forest fire warnings. While many of the fires in this scene may be intentional agricultural fires, others may be forest or other wildfires. Though not necessarily immediately hazardous, large-scale agricultural 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 additional resolutions.
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Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC
