Fact Sheet Page 3 Space Measurements Burning of savanna grasslands in Mozambique in southern Africa as photographed by astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle. The fire plumes containing particulates and gases travel thousands of kilometers from their origin.
Vegetation appears red in the false-color photograph.
The only way to accurately determine the exact location and extent of fires is to have a global perspective from space, making space-based measurements extremely important. Since no satellite has ever been dedicated to fire monitoring and measuring, most observations of fires from space are obtained from existing satellites developed for other purposes. Africa is the fire center of our planet with more biomass burned on an annual basis than anywhere else. They are both based on nighttime measurements obtained by the DMSP Operational Linescan System.