Late winter in the Northern Hemisphere is the dry season of the tropical monsoon climate of Southeast Asia. During this time of year, fires are common, most of them set by people for brush clearing, trash disposal, or maintaining cropland or pasture. As in other parts of the world, intentionally set fires can also get out of control and become wildfires.
This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on February 23, 2009, shows widespread fires (locations marked in red) across Southeast Asia. Fires were detected in India, Burma (Myanmar), Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and southern China. Smoke is spread over a large area. Although agricultural burning and other human-caused fires are not necessarily immediately hazardous, they can have a large impact on air quality and human health, climate, and natural resources.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.
