image: It is difficult to ascertain whether the hotspots noted on the image are wildfires or agricultural fires that dot the landscape in South Africa and other countries. Many of the nations are affected as evidence by this satellite image taken by the Aqua satellite on June 16, 2014. Agricultural fires are certainly set in this area of the world at times to renew the ground for new crops, but wildfires also break out in these areas, especially in the hotter, drier days of the year.
Hotspots, or areas that are hotter than the surrounding soil, are detected by MODIS's thermal bands and are outlined in red in this image. Fires can be definitively identified by the grey smoke plumes rising up.
Credit: NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz LANCE/EOSDIS MODIS Rapid Response Team, GSFC. Caption by Lynn Jenner