Images
March 7, 2020 - Fires in Cuba
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Plumes of smoke were pouring over the skies of Cuba on March 1, 2020, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene. Each gray plume rises from a red “hot spot”—an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hotspots mark actively burning fire.
Fire is used extensively as an agricultural tool in Cuba, but natural forest fires occur as well. The fires in this image are likely a combination of the two types, given the time of year and the location of the fires, but it’s not possible to determine the cause of a fire from satellite imagery alone. Fire season runs from January to May in Cuba, during the dry season, and ends when the rainy season begins in May.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 3/1/2020
Resolutions:
1km (74.8 KB), 500m (265.5 KB), 250m (832.3 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
Plumes of smoke were pouring over the skies of Cuba on March 1, 2020, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene. Each gray plume rises from a red “hot spot”—an area where the thermal bands on the instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hotspots mark actively burning fire.
Fire is used extensively as an agricultural tool in Cuba, but natural forest fires occur as well. The fires in this image are likely a combination of the two types, given the time of year and the location of the fires, but it’s not possible to determine the cause of a fire from satellite imagery alone. Fire season runs from January to May in Cuba, during the dry season, and ends when the rainy season begins in May.
Image Facts
Satellite:
Aqua
Date Acquired: 3/1/2020
Resolutions:
1km (74.8 KB), 500m (265.5 KB), 250m (832.3 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit:
MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC
