September 22, 2019 - Fire in Nxai Pan National Park, Botswana

On September 18, 2019, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of a large fire burning in Nxai Pan National Park, Botswana.

A number of red hot spots mark areas where the thermal band on the instrument detected high temperatures. When combined with typical smoke, as in this image, such hot spots mark actively burning fire. The hot spots burn at the edges of a donut-shaped, blackened, fire scar. It is likely that the untouched area in the center of the fire marks an area devoid of enough vegetation to support a fire. A large cloud of smoke blows to the west, suggesting strong winds that likely are feeding the fire’s spread.

Located in north-eastern Botswana, Nxai Pan National Park houses grassy plains and acacia. The dry season stretches from May to October and the lack of rain leaves vegetation dry and prone to fire. An important feature of the park is a grove of ancient baobab trees tucked next to Kudiakam Pan, which is one of the smaller salt pans in the park. According to Africa Geographic, one of the trees has a 25 meter (82 feet) trunk diameter and is estimated to be about 4,000 years old. The grove, known as Baines Baobabs, has not been affected by the fire, but the flames appear to be within 10 miles (16 km) of the location of those trees.

Image Facts
Satellite: Aqua
Date Acquired: 9/18/2019
Resolutions: 1km (189.3 KB), 500m (534.5 KB), 250m (346.5 KB)
Bands Used: 1,4,3
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC