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Agricultural Fires Continue in the Yucatan Peninsula

Terra image of Yucatan Peninsula and Guatemala
Red spots indicative of fire have overtaken the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala and Belize.

Red spots indicative of fire have overtaken the Yucatan Peninsula, Guatemala and Belize. Each of those hot spots is an area where the thermal detectors on the MODIS instrument recognized temperatures higher than background. NASA’s Terra satellite collected this natural-color image with the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer, MODIS, instrument on May 06, 2015.
At this time of year it is likely that most of these fires are biomass fires deliberately set to manage land for agriculture, especially in forest clearing, working cropland, and renewing pastures. Some, too, may be wildfires since this is the dry season in that area. Natural (lightning) or accidental (carelessness) sources can also cause an outbreak of wildfire. As the dry season progresses, the number of fires tend to grow, as will the pall of smoke which settles over the land.
The shiny, silver-toned band aligned in a north-to-south direction is sunglint – the mirror-like reflection of the Sun off the water surface.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner