The “Top End” of Northern Territory, Australia, experiences frequent fires throughout the dry season, both from natural and human causes. In many places, such as Kakadu National Park, which encompasses the Alligator River basin, land managers use controlled fires early in the dry season to create fire breaks and reduce the dry vegetation that could lead to more devastating fires later in the season. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite on June 17, 2009, shows fires (locations outlined in red) burning across the Top End and spreading thin plumes of smoke toward the northwest.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.
