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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