The image of fires over southern Africa was created by NASA scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The image was acquired by the Science Visualization Studio Satellite between September 4 to 25, 2000. Although the flora and fauna of African savannas are adapted to occasional burning, this fire season was of unprecedented severity. Scientists characterized the fires as producing a "river of smoke" over the region.

NASA's aim with such studies is to help governments and scientists forge better air pollution policies and guidelines for farmers. Further ahead, the goal is to understand how such vast regions of fire impact global climate change. This is especially important because this area of sub-Saharan Africa has among the highest levels of biomass burning in the world.

In 2000, western Zambia, southern Angola, northern Namibia, and northern Botswana were among the hardest hit. Fires lasted for days, and had fronts that extended 20 miles. Sorry, we are still researching Southern Africa fires information. Please return soon!