• MODIS Pic of the Day 09 September 2022

    From Dan Richter@1:317/3 to All on Fri Sep 9 12:00:44 2022
    September 9, 2022 - Fire Scars in Bolivia

    Burn Scars
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    Each year, as the Bolivian dry season comes to a close, traditional
    farmers set small, controlled fires as an agricultural tool. Such fires
    are used to burn the stubble from spent crops, maintain pastureland,
    fertilize soil, burn trash, clear brush, and take down forest to create
    more land that can be used for agriculture. At its best, using fire to
    manage farmland is effective and inexpensive. At it’s worse, this
    method has many drawbacks, including air pollution, deforestation, and
    the risk of managed fires escaping to become devastating wildfires.

    The peak fire season in Bolivia typically starts in mid-August and
    lasts fifteen weeks, according to Global Forest Watch. They also report
    that between September 1 and September 8, 2022, there were 2,423
    high-confidence fire alerts across Bolivia.

    While it is not possible to sort wildfire from agricultural fires from
    satellite alone, media often describes the presence of wildfire. This
    year, reports of wildfires in Bolivia began as early as mid-August. On
    August 18, ABC News (Australia) stated that wildfires had burnt about
    14 hectares across three different protected areas in the previous
    week, including the Sucuará Lake protected area, in Santa Cruz
    department. On September 7, a story published by Reuters and other
    outlets stated that more than a dozen forest fires had broken out in
    the lowlands of the country, according to Bolivian authorities. These
    fires threatened at least four nature reserves in the department of
    Santa Cruz and the department of Beni. In Beni alone, fires sweeping
    across four municipalities had destroyed more than 4,500 hectares
    (11,120 acres) of land. Bolivia’s protected areas are home to
    indigenous communities, and are extremely biodiverse, supporting
    jaguars, anteaters, sloth, and an extensive array of birds, reptiles,
    and plants.

    On September 6, 2022, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
    (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a false-color image of
    extensive burn scars and a pall of smoke across Bolivian lowlands. The
    image is centered on the department of Beni, Bolivia, with a bit of the
    department of Santa Cruz visible in the southeastern (lower right)
    corner.

    In false-color images that use visible and near infrared light (bands
    7,2,1 on the instrument), vegetation appears bright green, open land
    appears tan, water ranges from blue to black, and burn scars may appear
    black, brown, or brick-red. The color variation in burn scars depends
    on type of vegetation burned, the completeness of the burn, the amount
    of residue remaining after the burn, and the age of the burn. Fresh
    burns are most often bright brick red, while older scars lighten and
    fade as vegetation returns to the burnt area, a process that takes
    years.

    In this image, dozens of burn scars cover the landscape, ranging in
    color from bright brick red to pale tan with a flush of light
    green—evidence of widespread fires over multiple years. At least one
    plume of blue-gray smoke rises from the edge of a large burn scar and
    blows to the northeast. This is evidence of an actively burning fire as
    well as strong wind. Many lakes of various sizes and colors are also
    visible throughout the region.

    Image Facts
    Satellite: Terra
    Date Acquired: 9/6/2022
    Resolutions: 1km (290.1 KB), 500m (665.6 KB), 250m (1.6 MB)
    Bands Used: 7,2,1
    Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



    https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2022-09-09

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