Smog Instead of Clouds (IMAGE) Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Caption Smog instead of clouds: The many forest fires (red dots) in the lower area of a satellite image of South America, which caused high aerosol loads in the atmosphere, so that no clouds were able to form. Credit NASA Usage Restrictions None License Licensed content Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.