Wildfires

Wildfires - Global

Captured on August 22 this photo released on NASA’s Worldview application shows every fire burning on the planet right now.

Each of the countless red points overlaid on the image below represents an actively burning fire, as detected by NASA’s thermal bands. While some of these blazes are agricultural fires and controlled burns — used to clear crop fields of detritus and stimulate the pasture growth to support livestock — others are wildfires that have spread out of control.

The Worldview image, stitched together from full-resolution satellite imagery layers combined with current data, updates itself within three hours of observation, showing the whole planet as it looks “right now,” explains the space agency.

Of all the continents, Africa seems to be the most affected by raging fires and appears to be the “reddest” on the Worldview fire map. However, NASA points out that most of these red points are agricultural fires.

In contrast, the majority of blazes currently burning in North America and South America are wildfires. For instance, South America — and Chile in particular — has experienced “horrendous numbers of wildfires” in 2018, states NASA. The Chilean wildfires ravaging the country since the beginning of the year are being fed by a massive drought.”

Meanwhile, Brazil is also dealing with wildfires, in addition to planned agricultural fires, that have spread out of control “due to climate issues.”

As you might expect, Australia also has a large concentration of sizeable bushfires in the remote areas of the continent. This is by no means surprising, considering that 2018, specifically January through July, has produced the warmest period in the history of New South Wales since 1910.