The Aqua satellite has detected several dozens fires blazing in Western Australia near Perth, and to the east and south of that city. Some of these fires may be wildfires, but some may also be prescribed fires. Prescribed fires are lit deliberately by fire professionals for a variety of reasons that include:
- maintaining biodiversity,
- mitigating the severity of bushfires and to help protect lives and property by reducing the build-up of flammable fuel loads, and
- rehabilitating vegetation after disturbance, such as timber harvesting and mining
- undertaking research on fire and its interaction with our environment.
According to the Department of Parks and Wildfire of Western Australia there are many prescribed burns going on in this area. This URL: http://www.dpaw.wa.gov.au/management/fire/prescribed-burning/burns/burns-planned-for-lighting-today has a list for today of all the places that are to be lit and they seem to coincide with the fires on this Aqua image.
This natural-color satellite image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite on April 20, 2015. Actively burning areas, detected by MODIS’s thermal bands, are outlined in red. NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption: NASA/Goddard, Lynn Jenner