The Andes Mountains (image left) create an effective barrier to the smoke billowing from scores, possibly hundreds, of fires burning across central South America. This true-color image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on October 6, 2002. Fire detections are marked with red dots.
Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA-GSFC
