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Fires in Central Africa
People in Africa have used f
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7/9/09
| Description |
People in Africa have used fire for hundreds, possibly thousands, of years as an agricultural and land management tool. In the dry season, they set fires to clear brush and dead vegetation from farm and grazing land and to deal with household trash. As the rainy season migrates north and south across the continent each year, a wave of widespread fires precedes its arrival. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite from July 8, 2009, shows thick smoke from hundreds of fires (locations marked in red) burning in central Africa, from Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in the western part of the scene to Tanzania in the east. The tan and dull green landscape of southern DRC, Zambia, and Tanzania is savanna or grassland, while the deep green landscape of interior DRC (upper left) is tropical forest. Many of the fires have only small smoke plumes, and some appear to be making no smoke. The amount of smoke a fire generates is influenced by many factors, including the amount (biomass) of vegetation that is burning and how wet it is. Dry grass and brush would generate less smoke than trees. The large amount of smoke coming from the fires in DRC at upper left may be a sign that forest is burning. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey. |
| Date |
7/9/09 |
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Fires in Kasai Region, Democ
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Widespread agricultural burn
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7/24/09
| Description |
Widespread agricultural burning is common in the dry season in Africa. As the rainy season migrates north and south across the continent each year, a wave of widespread fires precedes its arrival. This image of the Kasai region of Democratic Republic of the Congo shows hundreds of active fires (marked in red) burning on July 20, 2009. The tan and light green landscapes are likely a mixture of agricultural land, grassland, and savanna, while the deep green areas between the Sankuru and Kasai Rivers are tropical forest. Although many of the fires that occur each year during Africa's dry season occur in landscapes where people have been living and farming for generations, the growing population is also using fire to clear new agricultural land out of Africa's tropical forests. Many of the fires in the image have only small smoke plumes, and some appear to be making no smoke. Dry grass or crop residue would generate less smoke than live or recently cut trees. The large amount of smoke coming from the fires along the margins of the forests, however, may indicate that forest is being cleared. The large version of the image shows fires are burning across a wider area, including parts of Angola (southwest), Zambia (southeast), and Tanzania (east). The image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite. Image credit: Jeff Schmaltz, NASA's MODIS Rapid Response Team Text credit: Rebecca Lindsey, NASA's Earth Observatory |
| Date |
7/24/09 |
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Floods in Southern Africa
| Title |
Floods in Southern Africa |
| Description |
A black web of water surrounds the Zambezi River in the top image, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on February 10, 2007. Mozambique was experiencing its worst floods in six years when the Zambezi flowed over its banks in January and February 2007, reported the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YZHG-6YCQR4?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2007-000011-ZMB ]). As of February 12, an estimated 29 people had died and 60,000 had been evacuated from the river's banks. Early and heavy rains fell over the entire Zambezi Basin, pushing the Zambezi and many of its tributaries into flood stage. The floods are likely to worsen as the 2,574-kilometer-long river receives water from its swollen tributaries in Angola, Namibia, Zambia, and Malawi. Releases from the massive Cahora Bassa Reservoir, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14110 ] which is reaching its capacity, are also expected to make flooding worse along the lower Zambezi. These images show the lower Zambezi where it meets the Shire River flowing south from Malawi, one of the most severely affected regions in Mozambique. The top image provides a remarkably cloud-free view of the floods, while the lower image, taken on December 31, 2006, shows the region before the rains started in January. The images were made with a combination of infrared and visible light to highlight the presence of water on the ground. Water is black or dark blue, while plant-covered land is green. Bare earth is tan and pink, and clouds are pale blue and white. Fires are outlined in red. Images such as these and photo-like, true-color images are provided by the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_SMozambique/2007041 ] on a daily basis. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Floods in Southern Africa
| Title |
Floods in Southern Africa |
| Description |
A black web of water surrounds the Zambezi River in the top image, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on February 10, 2007. Mozambique was experiencing its worst floods in six years when the Zambezi flowed over its banks in January and February 2007, reported the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YZHG-6YCQR4?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2007-000011-ZMB ]). As of February 12, an estimated 29 people had died and 60,000 had been evacuated from the river's banks. Early and heavy rains fell over the entire Zambezi Basin, pushing the Zambezi and many of its tributaries into flood stage. The floods are likely to worsen as the 2,574-kilometer-long river receives water from its swollen tributaries in Angola, Namibia, Zambia, and Malawi. Releases from the massive Cahora Bassa Reservoir, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14110 ] which is reaching its capacity, are also expected to make flooding worse along the lower Zambezi. These images show the lower Zambezi where it meets the Shire River flowing south from Malawi, one of the most severely affected regions in Mozambique. The top image provides a remarkably cloud-free view of the floods, while the lower image, taken on December 31, 2006, shows the region before the rains started in January. The images were made with a combination of infrared and visible light to highlight the presence of water on the ground. Water is black or dark blue, while plant-covered land is green. Bare earth is tan and pink, and clouds are pale blue and white. Fires are outlined in red. Images such as these and photo-like, true-color images are provided by the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_SMozambique/2007041 ] on a daily basis. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Floods in Southern Africa
| Title |
Floods in Southern Africa |
| Description |
On February 8, 2007, the government of Mozambique ordered the evacuation of 2,500 people as water levels on the Zambezi River continued to rise, reported the BBC. [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6341725.stm ] Floods have threatened many countries in southern Africa since early 2007, when the rainy season got an unusually early and intense start. As rivers in Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe filled, they drained into the Zambezi River, which spilled over its banks in many locations. By early February, the situation continued to deteriorate, driven in part by the vast amount of water being released from the Cahora Bassa Dam in western Mozambique. On February 6, as much as 5,170 cubic meters of water was being discharged from the dam every second, as more than 8,000 cubic meters of water flowed into the reservoir, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YSAR-6Y6LWF?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2007-000011-ZMB ]). The dam was approaching its capacity on February 8, said OCHA, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. The image shows the western shore of the Cahora Bassa Reservoir where the Zambezi and its tributary, the Luangwa River, form the back edge of the lake. The dam itself is beyond the right edge of the above image, but is shown in the large image. The lower image shows the region on December 24, 2006, before the rains started. By February 8, the reservoir had expanded to the confluence of the two rivers. The Luangwa River had also widened well beyond its dry-season banks. The water in the Cohora Bassa Reservoir lightened from blue-black to a dusty blue with the influx of muddy flood water. Both of these images were created with a combination of infrared and visible light that makes water appear dark blue or black. Plant-covered land is bright green, and bare or sparsely vegetated land is tan-pink. Clouds are white and pale blue. The MODIS Rapid Response System [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Zambia/2007039 ] produces similar false-color images as well as photo-like, true-color images of southern Africa daily. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Floods in Southern Africa
| Title |
Floods in Southern Africa |
| Description |
On February 8, 2007, the government of Mozambique ordered the evacuation of 2,500 people as water levels on the Zambezi River continued to rise, reported the BBC. [ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6341725.stm ] Floods have threatened many countries in southern Africa since early 2007, when the rainy season got an unusually early and intense start. As rivers in Zambia, Malawi, and Zimbabwe filled, they drained into the Zambezi River, which spilled over its banks in many locations. By early February, the situation continued to deteriorate, driven in part by the vast amount of water being released from the Cahora Bassa Dam in western Mozambique. On February 6, as much as 5,170 cubic meters of water was being discharged from the dam every second, as more than 8,000 cubic meters of water flowed into the reservoir, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YSAR-6Y6LWF?OpenDocument&rc=1&emid=FL-2007-000011-ZMB ]). The dam was approaching its capacity on February 8, said OCHA, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image. The image shows the western shore of the Cahora Bassa Reservoir where the Zambezi and its tributary, the Luangwa River, form the back edge of the lake. The dam itself is beyond the right edge of the above image, but is shown in the large image. The lower image shows the region on December 24, 2006, before the rains started. By February 8, the reservoir had expanded to the confluence of the two rivers. The Luangwa River had also widened well beyond its dry-season banks. The water in the Cohora Bassa Reservoir lightened from blue-black to a dusty blue with the influx of muddy flood water. Both of these images were created with a combination of infrared and visible light that makes water appear dark blue or black. Plant-covered land is bright green, and bare or sparsely vegetated land is tan-pink. Clouds are white and pale blue. The MODIS Rapid Response System [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Zambia/2007039 ] produces similar false-color images as well as photo-like, true-color images of southern Africa daily. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Floods in Southern Africa
| Title |
Floods in Southern Africa |
| Description |
Zambia's Chambeshi River had been transformed from a barely visible line to a broad lake more than 20 kilometers wide when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on February 6, 2007. Many rivers in southern Africa, including the Zambezi, [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14110 ] pushed over their banks in early 2007 under the onslaught of an exceptionally early and heavy rainy season. In East Zambia alone, 23,751 households had been affected by flooding along the Chambeshi and other rivers as of February 7, reported the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2007sum.htm ] Taken a little more than a month apart, this pair of images illustrates the severity of the flooding in East Zambia. The images were made with a combination of visible and infrared light to increase the contrast between water and land. In this type of false-color image, water is black, plant-covered land is green, and bare ground is a rosy tan. Clouds are pale blue and white. The tan land around the Chambeshi River in the lower image may illustrate the typical extent of the river during the rainy season. Clearly, the river has expanded beyond the patch of plant-free ground. The large images provided above are at MODIS' full resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Both false-color and photo-like, true-color images of Zambia are available from the MODIS Rapid Response System [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?FAS_Zambia/2007039 ] in a variety of resolutions on a daily basis. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Floods in Southern Africa
| Title |
Floods in Southern Africa |
| Description |
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite acquired these two images of the Zambezi River in central Mozambique in February 2007 just four days apart. Over the course of a weekend, floods along the lower Zambezi River in Mozambique spread to a nearby branch, the Cuecue River. According to local news reports released by the Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, the floods along the Zambezi started to drop on February 20, though water levels on the lower Zambezi, shown here, remained high. As the top image shows, some of the water is draining into smaller offshoots along the river valley and into the Indian Ocean. These images use both visible and infrared light to increase the contrast between water and land. In this color combination, water is black or dark blue, while bare ground is tan and plant-covered land is green. Clouds are blue and white. The Sun's reflection off the surface of the water turns the river pale blue in the top image, and a web of flood water surrounds the dark line cut by the Zambezi River across the center of both images. South of the fresh floods on the Cuecue River, several dark spots along the Zambezi indicate additional flooding. To see daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Mozambique/2007051 ] of the flood area in central Mozambique, please visit the MODIS Rapid Response web site. The floods started when unusually early and heavy rain pounded southern Africa in January and February 2007. The rains triggered floods that affected nearly 170,000 people in Angola, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YSAR-6YLNES?OpenDocument ]). In Mozambique, the United Nations and other organizations were providing food to more than 120,000 evacuees as of February 20, said OCHA. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Floods in Southern Africa
| Title |
Floods in Southern Africa |
| Description |
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite acquired these two images of the Zambezi River in central Mozambique in February 2007 just four days apart. Over the course of a weekend, floods along the lower Zambezi River in Mozambique spread to a nearby branch, the Cuecue River. According to local news reports released by the Agencia de Informacao de Mocambique, the floods along the Zambezi started to drop on February 20, though water levels on the lower Zambezi, shown here, remained high. As the top image shows, some of the water is draining into smaller offshoots along the river valley and into the Indian Ocean. These images use both visible and infrared light to increase the contrast between water and land. In this color combination, water is black or dark blue, while bare ground is tan and plant-covered land is green. Clouds are blue and white. The Sun's reflection off the surface of the water turns the river pale blue in the top image, and a web of flood water surrounds the dark line cut by the Zambezi River across the center of both images. South of the fresh floods on the Cuecue River, several dark spots along the Zambezi indicate additional flooding. To see daily images [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/subsets/?Mozambique/2007051 ] of the flood area in central Mozambique, please visit the MODIS Rapid Response web site. The floods started when unusually early and heavy rain pounded southern Africa in January and February 2007. The rains triggered floods that affected nearly 170,000 people in Angola, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia, and Zimbabwe, said the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA [ http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/RWB.NSF/db900SID/YSAR-6YLNES?OpenDocument ]). In Mozambique, the United Nations and other organizations were providing food to more than 120,000 evacuees as of February 20, said OCHA. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC. |
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Biomass Burning in Central a
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| Title |
Biomass Burning in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
This true-color image of the varied terrain of central Africa is nearly hidden beneath the bright red markers of thousands of active fire detections captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on June 13, 2003. Across Democratic Republic of Congo (top), Zambia (right edge), and Angola (left edge), fire season is in full swing, as farmers and ranchers use fire as a resource management tool as they have for possibly thousands of years. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC |
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Biomass Burning in Central a
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| Title |
Biomass Burning in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
Thousands of fires are burning across central and southern Africa in mid-June 2003, and have been detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. Active fire locations have been marked with red dots in this smoky image from June 16, 2003. The image spans Democratic Republic of Congo (top), and parts of Angola (left) and Zambia (bottom right). There is an especially smoky concentration of fires left of center at the top of the image, which is the southern Bandundu region of Democratic Republic of Congo. At bottom, the dark green area crisscrossed by dozens of tan lines is the deeply carved Angola Plateau, which drops off to the Liuwa Plain in Zambia, through which runs the Zambezi River. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS? maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Food Shortages in Southeast
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| Title |
Food Shortages in Southeast Africa |
| Description |
By December 1, 2005, many countries in southeastern Africa were facing food shortages for the fourth year in a row. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that as many as 10 million were in need of food aid in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Swaziland. The most severe shortages were in Malawi and Zambia, both of which declared a national disaster, and in Zimbabwe. Though hunger can result from sudden natural disasters like earthquakes, storms, or floods, most famines take months or years to develop. This food shortage is no exception. In February 2005, the rains needed to water developing crops failed to fall, and the drought resulted in a poor harvest. The effects of the drought on the landscape are clear in the images above. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took the top image on March 6, 2005, just after the dry spell in February. The lower image was taken on March 3, 2004. Although clouds cover part of the scene in 2004, most of the region is green with growing plants. In 2005, by contrast, the landscape is largely brown. The contrast between the bright green river-fed plants in Malawi and the surrounding rain-fed lands is much greater than it was in 2004. The preserved Miombo woodlands [ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/at/at0704.html ] in Kasungu National Park in the top of the image remain green while the surrounding human-altered landscape has browned in the drought. The primary crop grown in this region is maize. The images illustrate the value of satellite data in monitoring crops during a drought. Satellite data can show how weather conditions affect crops over a wide region. This big-picture perspective allows organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to estimate the size of a harvest months in advance. In this case, FAS lowered production estimates for Zambia, Malawi, and Zambia in April 2005 as the harvest was beginning. Mobilizing the food aid pipeline requires timely crop production estimates at or slightly before harvest time so that food aid can arrive 6-8 months later, when the "hunger season" traditionally sets in. Without the early warning that such estimates give, aid would not arrive until long after it is needed. By December 2005, when the food shortages came to the attention of international media, analysts were already monitoring the next season's crops, to be harvested in April and May 2006. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ], at NASA GSFC. Caption information courtesy Curt Reynolds of the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service as part of the Global Agricultural Monitoring Project, a partnership between NASA, FAS, and the University of Maryland. |
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Food Shortages in Southeast
…
| Title |
Food Shortages in Southeast Africa |
| Description |
By December 1, 2005, many countries in southeastern Africa were facing food shortages for the fourth year in a row. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that as many as 10 million were in need of food aid in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Swaziland. The most severe shortages were in Malawi and Zambia, both of which declared a national disaster, and in Zimbabwe. Though hunger can result from sudden natural disasters like earthquakes, storms, or floods, most famines take months or years to develop. This food shortage is no exception. In February 2005, the rains needed to water developing crops failed to fall, and the drought resulted in a poor harvest. The effects of the drought on the landscape are clear in the images above. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took the top image on March 6, 2005, just after the dry spell in February. The lower image was taken on March 3, 2004. Although clouds cover part of the scene in 2004, most of the region is green with growing plants. In 2005, by contrast, the landscape is largely brown. The contrast between the bright green river-fed plants in Malawi and the surrounding rain-fed lands is much greater than it was in 2004. The preserved Miombo woodlands [ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/at/at0704.html ] in Kasungu National Park in the top of the image remain green while the surrounding human-altered landscape has browned in the drought. The primary crop grown in this region is maize. The images illustrate the value of satellite data in monitoring crops during a drought. Satellite data can show how weather conditions affect crops over a wide region. This big-picture perspective allows organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to estimate the size of a harvest months in advance. In this case, FAS lowered production estimates for Zambia, Malawi, and Zambia in April 2005 as the harvest was beginning. Mobilizing the food aid pipeline requires timely crop production estimates at or slightly before harvest time so that food aid can arrive 6-8 months later, when the "hunger season" traditionally sets in. Without the early warning that such estimates give, aid would not arrive until long after it is needed. By December 2005, when the food shortages came to the attention of international media, analysts were already monitoring the next season's crops, to be harvested in April and May 2006. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ], at NASA GSFC. Caption information courtesy Curt Reynolds of the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service as part of the Global Agricultural Monitoring Project, a partnership between NASA, FAS, and the University of Maryland. |
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Food Shortages in Southeast
…
| Title |
Food Shortages in Southeast Africa |
| Description |
By December 1, 2005, many countries in southeastern Africa were facing food shortages for the fourth year in a row. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization reported that as many as 10 million were in need of food aid in Zambia, Malawi, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Lesotho, and Swaziland. The most severe shortages were in Malawi and Zambia, both of which declared a national disaster, and in Zimbabwe. Though hunger can result from sudden natural disasters like earthquakes, storms, or floods, most famines take months or years to develop. This food shortage is no exception. In February 2005, the rains needed to water developing crops failed to fall, and the drought resulted in a poor harvest. The effects of the drought on the landscape are clear in the images above. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite took the top image on March 6, 2005, just after the dry spell in February. The lower image was taken on March 3, 2004. Although clouds cover part of the scene in 2004, most of the region is green with growing plants. In 2005, by contrast, the landscape is largely brown. The contrast between the bright green river-fed plants in Malawi and the surrounding rain-fed lands is much greater than it was in 2004. The preserved Miombo woodlands [ http://www.nationalgeographic.com/wildworld/profiles/terrestrial/at/at0704.html ] in Kasungu National Park in the top of the image remain green while the surrounding human-altered landscape has browned in the drought. The primary crop grown in this region is maize. The images illustrate the value of satellite data in monitoring crops during a drought. Satellite data can show how weather conditions affect crops over a wide region. This big-picture perspective allows organizations like the Food and Agriculture Organization and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) to estimate the size of a harvest months in advance. In this case, FAS lowered production estimates for Zambia, Malawi, and Zambia in April 2005 as the harvest was beginning. Mobilizing the food aid pipeline requires timely crop production estimates at or slightly before harvest time so that food aid can arrive 6-8 months later, when the "hunger season" traditionally sets in. Without the early warning that such estimates give, aid would not arrive until long after it is needed. By December 2005, when the food shortages came to the attention of international media, analysts were already monitoring the next season's crops, to be harvested in April and May 2006. NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ], at NASA GSFC. Caption information courtesy Curt Reynolds of the Production Estimates and Crop Assessment Division of the USDA Foreign Agricultural Service as part of the Global Agricultural Monitoring Project, a partnership between NASA, FAS, and the University of Maryland. |
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Drought in Africa
| Title |
Drought in Africa |
| Description |
February is a key month for developing crops in southern Africa. Corn, the major crop, is in its critical tassel/silking stage where the plants require more water to successfully develop ears of corn. A lack of moisture at this point results in fewer, smaller ears, greatly reducing the yield of the crop. Just as the plants reached this critical stage, a dry spell settled over southern Africa. The reduced harvest may lead to food insecurity in parts of Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, and Swaziland, reports a recent brief released by the Famine Early Warming Systems Network [ http://www.fews.net/centers/innerSections.aspx?f=r3&m=1001535&pageID=monthliesDoc ]. The drought has not been limited to southern Africa. Further up the coast, many countries are dealing with a multi-year drought that has caused food shortages from Tanzania in the south to Ethiopia and Eritrea in the north. Both drought-affected regions are draped in shades of red in the above image. The image shows outgoing longwave radiation, the heat emitted from the Earth?s surface. Because clouds are much cooler than land, outgoing longwave radiation can tell scientists where clouds are or, more importantly for drought monitoring, where clouds are not. Without clouds, there is no rain. The above image shows a comparison between February 2005 and a long-term average of outgoing longwave radiation measurements made between 1979 and 1995. Regions that were cooler than normal, probably because of cloud cover are blue, while areas that were normal than normal because of a lack of clouds are red. The image, derived from measurements made by the TIROS Operational Vertical Sounder (TOVS) onboard the NOAA-POES satellite series, clearly shows a lack of cloud-cover in the drought-affected regions. OLR anomaly image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data analyzed by Assaf Anyamba and provided by NOAA National Center for Environmental Prediction [ http://www.ncep.noaa.gov/ ]. |
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Drought in Southern Africa
| Title |
Drought in Southern Africa |
| Description |
Hot, dry weather from January through March 2007 wilted crops in southern Africa. The severe drought produced near-record temperatures that, combined with a lack of rainfall, caused extensive crop damage, particularly in western crop areas, reported the United States Department of Agriculture's Foreign Agricultural Service. [ http://www.pecad.fas.usda.gov/wap_arch.cfm ] In South Africa, the anticipated yield from the corn crop dropped from ten million tons in December to six million tons in April because farmers couldn't plant in the dry conditions and many of the crops that were planted wilted in the dry heat. The last South African drought of this magnitude occurred in 1992. The impact of the drought on vegetation throughout southern Africa is illustrated in this image. The image shows vegetation conditions in March 2007 compared to conditions during the average March between 1999 and 2006 as measured by the SPOT satellite. Brown areas show where plants were less thick or where fewer plants grew than average. Green areas, by contrast, indicate that vegetation was thicker and more lush than average. The prevalence of brown indicates that plants were growing poorly throughout the region because of the drought. Green dominates in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique along the top edge of the image, where heavy rains triggered floods [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14125 ] during January and February. Some of the most severe flooding occurred along the Zambezi River, which is outlined in dark green in the upper-right corner of the image. Clearly, January and February's excess rain fed dense vegetation in March. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the United State Department of Agriculture Foreign Agriculture Service and processed by Jennifer Small, NASA GIMMS Group at Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Fire and Smoke in Angola
| Title |
Fire and Smoke in Angola |
| Description |
In August and September, accumulated smoke and smog from seasonal agricultural burning and charcoal production in southern Africa gets "recycled"across many southern Africa countries, including Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zimbabwe, and Zambia. At that time of year, a semi-permanent area of high atmospheric pressure takes up residence over that part of the continent, and the air re-circulates in a counterclockwise spin around the high. Air does escape from this spin-cycle at times and spreads out over the Indian Ocean to the east, or the Atlantic Ocean to the west, as it does in this Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image captured by NASA's Terra satellite on August 28, 2004. At right are of parts of (top to bottom) Gabon, Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Angola. Haze spreads out over the Atlantic, giving the clouds a dirty appearance. Contrast their color with the brightness of the cloud over Angola, at the bottom of the image to the right of center. MODIS also detected numerous fires, which have been marked in red. NASA scientists studied this atmospheric phenomenon in 2000 in a field campaign called SAFARI. To learn more, read "Red Alert! 'Recycled Ozone' Adds to Health Hazards in Zambia" [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Newsroom/NasaNews/2001/200112106304.html ] in the Earth Observatory's NASA News Archive. NASA image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC |
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Fire Season in Central and S
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| Title |
Fire Season in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
The agricultural burning season was solidly underway in central Africa on May 18, 2005, when this image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA?s Aqua satellite. Each red dot in this image marks a location where MODIS detected a fire. Fires are scattered across much of Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia. The widespread nature of the fires, their location, and the time of year all suggest that people are intentionally setting most of these fires for agricultural purposes. Though not necessarily hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC |
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Fire Season in Central and S
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| Title |
Fire Season in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
In eastern Africa, numerous fires were burning in Mozambique and Zambia on May 8, 2005. The fires (marked in red) are located in the plains between the Luangwa River in Zambia and the Zambezi River in Mozambique. In this corner of Mozambique, the Zambezi fills a long, thin reservoir behind the Cahora Bassa Dam. This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite. The widespread nature of the fires, their location, and the time of year suggest these are agricultural fires being used to clear or renew pasture or farmland. While they are not necessarily immediately hazardous, such fires can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ], NASA-GSFC |
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Fire Season in Central and S
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| Title |
Fire Season in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
In southern Africa, the annual burning season dotted the savannas surrounding Lake Tanganyika with hundreds of actively burning fires (marked in red) on June 11, 2005. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite shows fires in Democratic Republic of Congo (west of the lake), Tanzania (east of the lake), and northern Zambia (south of the lake). The widespread nature of the fires and the time of year suggest that people are intentionally setting most, if not all, of these fires for agricultural purposes like pasture renewal and crop stubble clearing. Though not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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Fire Season in Central and S
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| Title |
Fire Season in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
Images such as this one from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured on July 18, 2005, make it clear why scientists often call Africa "the burning continent." Africans have used fire for thousands of years to manage their agricultural lands, and the area of the continent experiencing widespread fire shifts with the seasons. This image shows the area west and south of Lake Tanganyika (upper right). It shows parts of Democratic Republic of Congo (top and center), Zambia (lower right), and Angola (lower left). Active fires detected by MODIS are marked with red dots. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC. |
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Fire Season in Central and S
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| Title |
Fire Season in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
The annual southern Africa burning season is fully underway in late July 2005. Each year, farmers and herders set fire to fields and grasslands to create soil-fertilizing ash, stop woody shrubs from encroaching on grasslands, and stimulate new plant growth. For those who don't live or travel there, it can be hard to imagine a continent on fire from coast to coast for several months a year. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite shows the immense spatial scale of the seasonal burning in Southern Africa. Thousands of active fires were detected by MODIS across Angola (left), Democratic Republic of Congo (top), and Zambia (right), their locations are marked with red dots. Though these fires are not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response team. |
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Fires Across Tanzania
| Title |
Fires Across Tanzania |
| Description |
Numerous fires (marked with red dots) were burning across eastern Africa on June 10, 2003. The fires appear most heavily concentrated east of Lake Tanganyika (left edge), but are also scattered across Zambia (bottom left) and Mozambique (bottom right). The fires are part of the typical agricultural burning that occurs in the region, where people set fires to clear land and prepare it for planting and ranching. This Aqua MODIS image was acquired on June 10, 2003. Image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC |
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Fires in Angola
| Title |
Fires in Angola |
| Description |
In southern Africa's tropical savannas, fires set by humans are widespread for many months each year. During the dry season, people use the fires to clear brush, pasture, or old croplands, and also to drive game and livestock. In Angola, burning often begins sometime in May and becomes more and more widespread through mid-year, tapering off in September or October. This image of Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite on July 9, 2007. Fires (locations marked in red) blanket the scene. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Fires in Central Africa
| Title |
Fires in Central Africa |
| Description |
In Africa south of the equator, fires are ubiquitous during the annual dry season. The exact length and timing of the dry season vary in different locations, but it generally falls between May and October. During that time, people use fire to clear brush and crop stubble, to control the growth of undesirable plants in crop or grazing areas, and to drive grazing animals from one pasture area to another. This image shows early dry-season burning across a large swath of central Africa south of the equator on May 28, 2007. The image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite, and shows places the sensor detected active fires marked with red dots. Hundreds of fires dot the tropical savannas (ecosystems dominated by grasses and scattered trees and shrubs) of Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia. Although these fires are not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. For example, the fires create large amounts of ozone and other air pollutants, and the too-frequent use of fire combined with other pressures such as overgrazing may degrade the soil and prevent some plant species from regenerating. You can download a 250-meter-resolution Central Africa fires KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/May2007/cafrica_amo_2007148.kmz ] for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/l ] NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Fires in Central Africa
| Title |
Fires in Central Africa |
| Description |
In central Africa the annual fire season was underway in mid-June 2007, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite passed overhead and captured this image. Hundreds of agricultural fires were scattered across the savannas of Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, and Tanzania, their locations are marked with red dots. Although it is not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Fires in Central and Souther
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| Title |
Fires in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
Hundreds of fires were burning in Angola (left) and Democratic Republic of Congo (upper right) on May 30, 2006, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite captured this image. MODIS also detected fires (locations marked in red) in Zambia (bottom right). Widespread agricultural burning (clearing old vegetation or brush from pasture and croplands) occurs in the dry season in this part of Africa. The start and stop date of the dry and rainy seasons varies, in northern Angola, for example, the dry season usually begins in May and lasts until September or October. Fires are a well-established, and in many cases natural, part of the savanna landscapes of Africa south of the Sahara. Although it is not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Fires in Central and Souther
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| Title |
Fires in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
In central Africa, hundreds, possibly thousands of fires were burning in Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia on June 10, 2006. This image of the area from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite shows locations where the sensor detected active fires marked in red. Widespread agricultural burning such as this is common in Africa, and it is not necessarily immediately hazardous. Nevertheless, the fires and smoke can have a significant impact on climate, human health, and natural resources. NASA images created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data obtained from the Goddard Earth Sciences DAAC. [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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Fires in Central and Souther
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| Title |
Fires in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
On July 10, 2006, thousands of fires were burning across the savannas of central and southern Africa when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite passed overhead. Each place where MODIS detected an actively burning fire has been marked in red in this scene, which spans parts of Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia. Some of the fires had distinct smoke plumes, which winds were blowing northwest. At upper left, the skies are so smoky that the features of the landscape below are indistinct. Even the clouds in the scene at left and upper right appear dirty. No landscape on Earth experiences such extensive burning as the savannas of Africa. For thousands of years, people in Africa have used fire in their agricultural activities. They burn grassland to clear it for crops, to keep woody plants and trees from invading pasture areas, and to renew pasture grass. People have also used fire to drive game and facilitate hunting. Although fire has been integral to the ecosystems of southern Africa for millennia, increasing populations and demands on the landscape may change the frequency and intensity of burning. Such widespread burning, while not necessarily immediately hazardous, can have a strong impact on climate, human health, and natural resources. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, Earth Observatory, using data provided courtesy of the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Fires in Central and Souther
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| Title |
Fires in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
South of the Sahara Desert, agricultural burning dominates the savanna landscape in Africa in the dry season. Vast areas of the continent burn every year as people set fire to range and crop lands to clear or renew them for the next growing season. A clear day over central Africa on July 30, 2006, revealed the widespread areas burned by agricultural fires so far this season. The image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov ] satellite, and it uses MODIS' observations of shortwave and near-infrared light along with visible light to make the burned areas stand out from unburned vegetation. Across Angola, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Zambia, deep red burn scars mingle with the unburned bright green vegetation. Water is dark blue, and naturally bare or sparsely vegetated ground appears light (sometimes pinkish) tan. Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires are marked in red. The high-resolution image provided above has a spatial resolution of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions. NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Fires in Central and Souther
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| Title |
Fires in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
Scores of fires were burning in the Democratic Republic of Congo (top), Angola (bottom left), and Zambia (lower right) on May 9, 2002, early in the southern Africa fire season. This true-color image was acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA?s Terra satellite. Please note that the high-resolution scene provided here is 500 meters per pixel. For a copy of this scene at the sensor's fullest resolution, visit the MODIS Rapidfire site. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Central and Souther
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| Title |
Fires in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
Just south of the image of the Democratic Republic of Congo acquired on May 9, 2002, this image of Angola (left) and Zambia (right) show that fires are burning over a wide area of central and southern Africa this May. Smoke that was visible in an image of the region on May 9, 2002, (bottom right) had cleared up by the time of this image. Both images were acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA?s Terra satellite. Please note that the high-resolution scene provided here is 500 meters per pixel. For a copy of this scene at the sensor's fullest resolution, visit the MODIS Rapidfire site. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Central and Souther
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| Title |
Fires in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
The southern Africa burning season is still underway as farmers and ranchers light fires to clear fields for planting and to renew rangeland vegetation. Numerous fires (red dots) were detected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA?s Terra satellite through Angola (top left quadrant) and Zambia (top right quadrant) and tapering off in Namibia (bottom left quadrant) and Botswana (bottom right quadrant). The green broomstick-shaped feature south of image center is the vegetation of the Okavango River Delta. The highly reflective area to its southeast is the Makgadikgadi Salt Pans. Another salt flat, called Etosha Pan, is visible south of the Angola-Namibia border. This image was acquired on September 12, 2002. Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA-GSFC |
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Fires in Central and Souther
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| Title |
Fires in Central and Southern Africa |
| Description |
Even for a region that sees a lot fires during the agricultural season, this scene seems to reveal an exceptional number of fires for countries from east-central to southern Africa. This true-color image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on September 25, 2002. Hundreds of fire detections are indicated by red dots. In the top center of the image is Lake Malawi, which is bounded on the west by Malawi, on the northeast by Tanzania, and on the southeast by Mozambique. Other countries visible in the image are (north-south along left edge) Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Republic of South Africa, and Swaziland (bottom center). Agricultural fires have been part of the ecological cycles in Africa for perhaps thousands of years, used to clear land and regenerate pasture. Scientists are studying these cycles to assess their impact on air quality, global warming, and ecosystem change. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Seasonal floods along the Za
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| Title |
Seasonal floods along the Zambezi River |
| Description |
Every year as the rainy season draws to a close, the Zambezi River pushes over its banks along its upper reaches in Zambia. Flooding is way of life to local tribes who regularly move to higher ground during the rainy season, but this year is proving to be worse than normal. Last year's floods [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=9122 ] displaced over 10,000 people in late March. This year, the river is already higher than it was last year, and people in Namibia's Caprivi Strip, downstream, are bracing for serious floods. Some villages are already surrounded by water. Record rainfall in January and continued heavy rain in February is to blame for the higher-than-average flood water in the Zambezi. The above Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) images provide a contrast between the dry season, November 24, 2003, and the wet season, March 3, 2004. Only a thin dark line marks the location of the river during the dry season, while black puddles show the river's extent during the wet season. In these false-color images, plants are green, bare land is tan, and clouds are white and light blue. The high-resolution images provided above are at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Seasonal floods along the Za
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| Title |
Seasonal floods along the Zambezi River |
| Description |
Every year as the rainy season draws to a close, the Zambezi River pushes over its banks along its upper reaches in Zambia. Flooding is way of life to local tribes who regularly move to higher ground during the rainy season, but this year is proving to be worse than normal. Last year's floods [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=9122 ] displaced over 10,000 people in late March. This year, the river is already higher than it was last year, and people in Namibia's Caprivi Strip, downstream, are bracing for serious floods. Some villages are already surrounded by water. Record rainfall in January and continued heavy rain in February is to blame for the higher-than-average flood water in the Zambezi. The above Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) images provide a contrast between the dry season, November 24, 2003, and the wet season, March 3, 2004. Only a thin dark line marks the location of the river during the dry season, while black puddles show the river's extent during the wet season. In these false-color images, plants are green, bare land is tan, and clouds are white and light blue. The high-resolution images provided above are at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Seasonal floods along the Za
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| Title |
Seasonal floods along the Zambezi River |
| Description |
Every year as the rainy season draws to a close, the Zambezi River pushes over its banks along its upper reaches in Zambia. Flooding is way of life to local tribes who regularly move to higher ground during the rainy season, but this year is proving to be worse than normal. Last year's floods [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=9122 ] displaced over 10,000 people in late March. This year, the river is already higher than it was last year, and people in Namibia's Caprivi Strip, downstream, are bracing for serious floods. Some villages are already surrounded by water. Record rainfall in January and continued heavy rain in February is to blame for the higher-than-average flood water in the Zambezi. The above Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) images provide a contrast between the dry season, November 24, 2003, and the wet season, March 3, 2004. Only a thin dark line marks the location of the river during the dry season, while black puddles show the river's extent during the wet season. In these false-color images, plants are green, bare land is tan, and clouds are white and light blue. The high-resolution images provided above are at MODIS' maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Seasonal floods along the Za
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| Title |
Seasonal floods along the Zambezi River |
| Description |
Heavy rains through the month of March have pushed a section of Africa?s Zambezi River to its highest level since 1958. Just as the mighty river turns east in its path to the Indian Ocean, and immediately before it thunders over the Victoria Falls, it passes through the low-lying plains of Namibia?s Caprivi Strip. This section of the river floods often as the wet-season rains fill the river. This year, the floods have come earlier than normal, and are rising to levels not seen in nearly 50 years. The Namibian government expects to evacuate 40,000 to 50,000 people from the region as the flood waters continue to rise, though only 20,000 have been affected as of April 1. In comparison, last year?s floods, which at the time were declared the worst the region had seen since 1958, forced 12,000 people from their homes. On March 31, 2004, the waters reached 6.89 meters, surpassing the peak of last year?s flood, 6.64 meters. So far, two people have died in this year?s floods. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) on the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured this view of the flood in the Caprivi Strip on March 30, 2004. The false color image shows the flood water in an inky black in sharp contrast to the bright green vegetation. Bare ground is tan and clouds are light blue. The image is available in true-color [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2004090-0330/Caprivi.A2004090.1205 ] and additional resolutions [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/?2004090-0330/Caprivi.A2004090.1205.721 ]. The Zambezi River forms at a spring in northern Zambia, and flows south through Zambia and Angola before turning east in Namibia?s Caprivi Strip and flowing through Zimbabwe, Zambia, and Mozambique to the Indian Ocean. It is Africa?s fourth largest river system after the Nile, Zaire, and Niger Rivers. The high-resolution image also shows floods along the northern section of the river in Zambia at MODIS maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Seasonal floods along the Za
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| Title |
Seasonal floods along the Zambezi River |
| Description |
On April 12, 2004, the clouds that typically shroud Western Zambia this time of year cleared long enough to give the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ] (MODIS) on the Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite this clear view of the flooded Zambezi River. The river floods during the rainy season every year, but this year, the waters are higher than usual. Recent news reports say that 21,000 households in Western and Northwestern Zambia have been affected by the Zambezi floods so far. The flooding began in December 2003, and increased as the region received far more rain than normal. Now the river is covering most of the plains that line its banks, limiting access to the schools and health centers that are not submerged. Fields of maize and rice have also been covered by the floods. The high waters on this stretch of the Zambezi are also troubling to the already water-logged communities downstream. As these flood waters have moved down into northeast Namibia?s Caprivi Strip, they have affected 20,000 people, killing six. Now officials expect the river to continue to expand in the coming weeks. This image shows the Zambezi River in Zambia just north of the Namibian border. Flowing down across the lower left corner of the image is the Cuando River, which also appears to be flooded with black water surrounding the green lines that mark the river?s usual banks. This section of the Cuando River runs along the border of Zambia and Angola. In this false color image, water is black, and vegetation is bright green. A few white and light blue clouds skirt the edges of the scene. The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS? maximum resolution of 250 meters per pixel. Image courtesy Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Southeastern Africa
| Title |
Fires in Southeastern Africa |
| Description |
The southern Africa biomass burning season is in full swing across (clockwise from top left) Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Tanzania, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, and Malawi (center). Fires, marked with red dots, are an integral part of the farming and grazing practices in the region. This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on August 18, 2003. The high-resolution image provided above is 500 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at MODIS' maximum spatial resolution of 250 meters. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Fires in Southern Africa
| Title |
Fires in Southern Africa |
| Description |
West of Lake Tanganyika in east-central Africa, smoke chokes the air over Democratic Republic of Congo, where the annual fire season has been ongoing for several weeks. Fires are also burning to the east of Tanganyika in Tanzania, and to the southwest, in Zambia. This image of the haze and fires (orange dots) was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on May 16, 2004. Image by Earth Observatory staff, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC |
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Fires in Southern Africa
| Title |
Fires in Southern Africa |
| Description |
West of Lake Tanganyika in east-central Africa, scores of fires (orange dots) were choking the skies over Democratic Republic of Congo with smoke on May 23, 2004. To the east of the lake, fires are burning in Tanzania, as well, though the air is considerably less smoky there. Fires were also detected in Zambia, which sits at the bottom right portion of the image, south of the lake. The widespread nature of the fires and the time of year indicates that these fires are being set intentionally for agricultural purposes. Though not necessarily immediately hazardous, such large-scale burningand the resulting smokecan have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. This image was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite. Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC |
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Fires in Southern Africa
| Title |
Fires in Southern Africa |
| Description |
In south-central Africa, season agricultural burning has been a way of life for hundreds, probably thousands of years. People burn grasslands and savannas to encourage new vegetation that attracts grazing animals and to clear or renew land for farming. Though not necessarily hazardous, such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. This image shows fires (marked in yellow) across southern Africa on August 17, 2004. At image right is Lake Tanganyika, which sits at the borders of Tanzania to the east, Democratic Republic of Congo to the west, Zambia to the south, and Burundi to the north. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this image. Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC |
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Fires Near Lake Malawi, Afri
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| Title |
Fires Near Lake Malawi, Africa |
| Description |
In southeastern Africa, scores of fires were burning on September 25, 2004, in Mozambique south of Lake Malawi, whose southern tip is at the top center of the image. Active fire detections made by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite are marked in red. The fires created a layer of smoke that darkened the surface of the land beneath it. At upper left in the image, the turquoise-colored body of water is the Cahora Basso Lake, created by a dam on the Zambeze River just inside Mozambique after the river leaves its course along the border of Zambia and Zimbabwe. NASA image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team, NASA-GSFC |
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Tropical Cyclone Favio
| Title |
Tropical Cyclone Favio |
| Description |
Tropical Cyclone Favio formed in the western Indian Ocean about 1,200 kilometers from Madagascar on February 14, 2007. It gradually moved southwest, passing well offshore of Reunion and Mauritius Islands. By February 20, it was just off the southern shore of Madagascar as a well-formed, mature storm. While the storm system had largely skirted around populated areas to that point, forecasters were concerned about its behavior as it entered the warmer waters of the Mozambique Channel. The storm was forecast to reach Category Four [ http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/aboutsshs.shtml ] strength before coming ashore and tracking inland through Zimbabwe and Zambia, bringing heavy rains to already flooded areas. [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14115 ] This photo-like image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] on the Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite on February 20, 2007, at 2:15 p.m. local time (11:15 UTC). The storm was turning north around the southern end of Madagscar, headed for the Mozambique Channel. Favio had the recognizable shape of a southern-hemisphere tropical cyclone, with spiral arms showing its clockwise rotation. The spiral arms are well-defined and tightly wound. A distinct eye at the center of the storm is only partially filled with clouds (a "partially closed" eye). These are all signs of a well-developed and powerful storm, consistent with the cyclone's strength. According to the University of Hawaii's Tropical Storm Information Center, [ http:/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3 www.solar.ifa.hawaii.edu/Tropical/ ] Favio had steady winds of around 160 kilometers per hour (100 miles per hour) around the time MODIS made this observation. The high-resolution image provided above is at MODIS' full spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel. The MODIS Rapid Response System provides this image at additional resolutions. You can also download a 250-meter-resolution Cyclone Favio KMZ file [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/Archive/Feb2007/Favio.A2007051.1115.250m.kmz ] for use with Google Earth. [ http://earth.google.com/download-earth.html ] NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov ] Goddard Space Flight Center. |
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Flooding in southeastern Afr
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Flooding in southeastern Africa |
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Heavy rains across southeastern Africa led to flooding throughout Zambia, Malawi, and Mozambique that displaced thousands of people and destroyed hundreds of acres of invaluable crops. This true color image of flooding in Zambia was acquired on January 10, 2003, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA?s Terra spacecraft. The floods looks like bruises on the land just below Lake Bengwuelu. Farther east in Malawi and Mozambique, flooding has driven over 30,000 people from their homes and killed seven people. The fallout from the floods, however, may be worse than the floods themselves. A food shortage currently exists in southeastern Africa, and the floods have now destroyed much valuable cropland along the rivers and lakes. In this false-color image, land is green, water is black and dark blue, and clouds are light blue and white. Image courtesy Jacques Descloitres, MODIS Land Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC |
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Flooding in the Zambezi Vall
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Flooding in the Zambezi Valley |
| Description |
The ribbon of blue flood water that surrounds the Zambezi River in the top image is not unusual. Every year, when the rainy season sets in over southern Angola and western Zambia, the river rises and spreads wide across its flood plain. The intense rains that fell from mid-December through March 2007 caused widespread flooding across southern Africa [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14125 ] from Angola to Mozambique. The floods caused dozens of deaths, displaced thousands, and caused extensive damage to both agriculture and infrastructure, said the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2007sum.htm ] Many of the deadly floods have occurred along various sections of the Zambezi and its tributaries. The floods shown here caused agricultural losses. In additional to being heavier than normal, the rains also came early, reported the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on March 4, 2007. The lower image was taken on December 1, 2006, by the MODIS sensor flying on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, and is provided here to show the river during the dry season. The images were made with visible and infrared light to highlight the presence of water on the ground. Water is dark blue, while the surrounding plant-covered land is green. Bare or lightly vegetated ground is tan, and clouds are pale blue and white. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Flooding in the Zambezi Vall
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| Title |
Flooding in the Zambezi Valley |
| Description |
The ribbon of blue flood water that surrounds the Zambezi River in the top image is not unusual. Every year, when the rainy season sets in over southern Angola and western Zambia, the river rises and spreads wide across its flood plain. The intense rains that fell from mid-December through March 2007 caused widespread flooding across southern Africa [ http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14125 ] from Angola to Mozambique. The floods caused dozens of deaths, displaced thousands, and caused extensive damage to both agriculture and infrastructure, said the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. [ http://www.dartmouth.edu/%7efloods/Archives/2007sum.htm ] Many of the deadly floods have occurred along various sections of the Zambezi and its tributaries. The floods shown here caused agricultural losses. In additional to being heavier than normal, the rains also came early, reported the Dartmouth Flood Observatory. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS [ http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov ]) on NASA's Terra [ http://terra.nasa.gov/ ] satellite captured the top image on March 4, 2007. The lower image was taken on December 1, 2006, by the MODIS sensor flying on NASA's Aqua [ http://aqua.nasa.gov/ ] satellite, and is provided here to show the river during the dry season. The images were made with visible and infrared light to highlight the presence of water on the ground. Water is dark blue, while the surrounding plant-covered land is green. Bare or lightly vegetated ground is tan, and clouds are pale blue and white. NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data provided by the MODIS Rapid Response [ http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ] team. |
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Flooding in Zambia
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Flooding in Zambia |
| Description |
In late March 2003, heavy rains in Zambia led to floods that displaced over 10,000 people and destroyed thousands of valuable acres of farmland. The floods can be seen in this false-color image (right) acquired on March 27, 2003, by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA?s Terra spacecraft. The most devastating floods occurred in the southern part of Zambia. The loss of cattle and crops in the floods has exacerbated a food shortage due to recent droughts. The food shortage could potentially affect over two million people in the small country. During dry season (left, acquired by MODIS Aqua on October 21, 2002), there is hardly any standing water in southern and western Zambia. In this false-color image, water is black. Clouds appear as pale blue and white, and land is green and tan. Image by Jesse Allen, based on data from the MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA-GSFC |
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Victoria Falls, Zambezi Rive
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Victoria Falls, Zambezi River |
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high resolution 1000 pixel-wide image (920 kB JPEG) Victoria Falls is one of the most famous tourist sites in subsaharan Africa. Details of the Falls are visible in this image taken with the 800 mm lens by Astronaut Edward Lu from the Space Station on September 4, 2003. A major river in south-central Africa, the Zambezi River flows from western Zambia to the Indian Ocean in Mozambique. In the sector imaged here, it flows southeast (top left to bottom right) in a wide bed before plunging suddenly 130 meters over the Victoria Falls into a narrow gorge. The falls and their famous spray clouds are 1700 m long, the longest sheet of falling water in the world. The falls appear as a ragged white line. The small town of Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe appears just west (left) of the falls, with smaller tourist facilities on the east bank in Zambia. The international railroad bridge over the second gorge (between Zimbabwe and Zambia) can be seen in the detailed view on the bottom (arrow). The positions of the falls are controlled by linear fault lines in the underlying basalt rocks. The falls have moved upstream (bottom to top) by intense river erosion, elongating the zig-zag gorge in the process. Prior positions of the strongly linear falls can be detected. The earliest on this cropped view may have been the longest (dashed line). The zig-zags represent subsequent positions, all with the characteristic water-worn lip on the upstream side. The falls will continue to erode northward. Astronaut photograph ISS007-E-14361 was taken September 4, 2003 with a Kodak DCS760 digital camera equipped with an 800mm lens and provided by M. Justin Wilkinson (Lockheed Martin / Earth Observations Laboratory, Johnson Space Center). The International Space Station Program [ http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/ ] supports the laboratory to help astronauts take pictures of Earth that will be of the greatest value to scientists and the public, and to make those images freely available on the Internet. Additional images taken by astronauts and cosmonauts can be viewed at the NASA/JSC Gateway to Astronaut Photography of Earth. [ http://eol.jsc.nasa.gov/ ] |
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