NASA Photo of the Week

Satellite image of Argentine smoke plumes

The predominant brownish coloring of the terrain in eastern Argentina is due to dormant grasslands and other vegetation during the current southern winter.

Thick plumes of smoke blew over Buenos Aires in mid-July, probably from fires ignited upwind to clear land for agriculture, according to NASA.

The image to the right, captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument orbiting aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite, shows individual columns of smoke rising from the flood plain of the Paraná River.

The image was taken at midday on July 16, 2008, as the satellite passed over eastern Argentina.

The lighter color of Buenos Aires’ buildings and streets can clearly be seen, as can the streams of smoke blowing over the Argentine capital from the agricultural burning.

Smoke from other fires to the northwest in neighboring Paraguay combined with the smoke from the Paraná delta to create an even thicker blanket of air pollution over eastern Argentina.

The red markings visible in the enlarged image indicate where the MODIS sensor detected actual fires burning when it passed overhead.

In mid-April, much thicker smoke caused a health crisis around Buenos Aires, and also dropped visibility so low that it caused traffic accidents on highways in the region.

Image: NASA's MODIS Rapid Response System
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