June 19, 2023 - Burn Scars near Kafue National Park, Zambia

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Multiple large burn scars covered verdant green savanna grasslands near
in west-central Zambia in mid-June 2023. The Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite acquired
this false-color image located near Kafue National Park on June 14.

This type of false-color image uses infrared and visible light to help
separate vegetation, which appears bright green, from water (deep inky
blue) and burn scars. Such scars are left after fire scorches an area,
and their color can vary from brick red to light brown or black
depending on several factors including how much vegetation remains, how
hot the burn was, how long ago the fire burnt the land, and even the
color of the soil.

In this image, brick red is the predominant color of the burn scars and
suggests they are recently made. In some areas they are very dark,
perhaps where vegetation was more completely burned, or the fire became
hotter. Orange dots appear along the edges of some of the burnt areas.
These are spots indicating actively burning fire. Most of the scars sit
in savanna grassland west of the Kafue River and near or in Kafue
National Park.

While satellite imagery can’t diagnose why a fire started, given the
time of year and the location it is very likely that these scars came
from fires set to manage the land. Zambia’s grasslands grow extremely
lush in the rainy season, which begins in November and ends in April.
Fire is a natural part of this ecosystem and even is necessary to
sustain the savanna vegetation which supports both wildlife and human
communities. Traditionally, nearly 70 percent of the lands in and
around Kafue National Park burn annually, usually at the end of the dry
season when vegetation is tinder-ready and air temperatures soar. Under
these conditions, wild bush fires can cause devastation over vast
areas.

In order to manage and sustain a healthy ecosystem and avoid
destructive late dry-season fires, a management technique called “early
burning” is practiced in this area, and across much of Zambia. Fires
are deliberately set in the early dry season when vegetation still has
some moisture. It will burn, but at lower temperatures and without the
risk of escape and spread typical of the late dry season. The process
of early burning also helps shrubs to sprout vigorously and encourages
growth of new grass, both of which provide food for wildlife in the
otherwise parched late dry season. As vegetation is renewed in these
areas, the scars will fill in and become green. By the early wet
season, little trace of the May-through-June early burns will remain to
be seen from space.

Image Facts
Satellite: Terra
Date Acquired: 6/14/2023
Resolutions: 1km (167.8 KB), 500m (428.2 KB), 250m (257.7
KB)
Bands Used: 7.2.1
Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2023-06-19

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