On January 31, 2018, NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image of wildfires that are plaguing the La Pampa Province in Argentina. Argentina is no stranger to wildfires in forests and grasslands and thousands and thousands of acres are destroyed each year due to wildfires. This year intense heat and strong winds are increasing the spread of the wildfires. La Pampa and western Mendoza provinces have, in particular, been impacted by these fires. There has been no cause reported for the wildfire, but each year cattle farmers routinely light fires to improve the quality of forage for their herds. It is possible that one of these fires grew out of control.
This natural-color satellite image was collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard the Aqua satellite. 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