WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

This digital still image from the International Space Station features fire scars and smoke plumes resulting from biomass burning in the savannahs of the southern Democratic Republic Congo. Expedition Four crewmembers aboard the station observed the seasonal increase in savannah burning, which traditionally peaks in the area in June. This image, taken on May 16, 2002, is centered near 8.6 degrees south latitude, 27.4 degrees east longitude. These fires, likely the result of human activities, according to the staff in the Earth Sciences and Image Analysis Laboratory at the Johnson Space Center, are thought to contribute significant emissions to the atmosphere (Cahoon, et al, 1992). The darker area in the foreground is a more heavily wooded hillside; most burning occurs in the grassier savannahs which appear red-brown