NASA: Mexico - Incendios Forestales - Busy 2011 Fire Season in Mexico

Posted by Ricardo Marcenaro | Posted in | Posted on 17:50



Open your mind, your heart to other cultures
Abra su mente, su corazón a otras culturas
You will be a better person
Usted será una mejor persona
RM



May usually marks the end of the fire season in Mexico. Sometime during the month, the first wet-season rains begin to fall, followed by a soggy five months. Yet, on May 20, 2011, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite took this image, the fire season was still going strong. Fires, marked in red, were burning throughout the country, casting a smoky haze from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico.
The widespread fires shown here are evidence of the extreme fire season 2011 turned out to be in Mexico. By May 19, more than 530,000 hectares (1,300,000 acres or 2,000 square miles) of land had burned in the country since the beginning of the year, said the Mexican government. In terms of area burned, 2011 surpassed every year since (and including) 1998, making it one of the most challenging fire seasons in 30 years.
What made the 2011 fire season so extreme? In part, the answer lies in the 2010 rainy season, one of the wettest on record. Rains from Hurricane Alex flooded northern Mexico in July, and then torrential rains caused widespread flooding in southern Mexico in September. All of this excess water allowed thick grass to grow. During the dry season, which begins in October and lasts through May, the grass dried, providing ample fuel for fires.
In April and May, hot, dry, and windy conditions allowed fires throughout the country to surge out of control. Many of the fires started as agricultural fires, traditionally used to clear farm or pasture land, said the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The widespread nature of the fires in this image suggests that people deliberately started many of them.
Most of the land burned in 2011 was grassland. This means that even though the fires burned a greater area in 2011, the ecological impact is far smaller than the last severe fire season in 1998, when large tracts of rare forest burned. The grasslands will recover in the next rainy season.

  1. References

  2. AFP. (2010, September 9). Mexico’s worst ever rainy season to intensify: president. Accessed May 23, 2011.
  3. Comisión Nacional Forestal. (2011, May 19). Reporte semanal de resultados de incendios forestales 2011. Gobierno Federal, Estados Unidos Mexicanos.
  4. Presna Latina. (2011, May 22). Incendios forestales dañan miles de hectáreas en México. Accessed May 23, 2011.
  5. Rodriguez, D.A. and Pyne, S.J. (1999, March). Mexican fires of 1998. International Forest Fire News, no. 20. Accessed May 23, 2011.
  6. Secretaría de Medio Ambiente y Recursos Naturales. (2011, May 9). Com. 219/11.—La temporada de incendios 2011 ha sido difícil, pero se mantiene bajo control: Semarnat. Accessed May 23, 2011.
NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team at NASA GSFC. Caption by Holli Riebeek.
Instrument: 
Aqua - MODIS

More Images of the Day
Eruption of Grímsvötn Volcano, Iceland U.S. Atlantic Seaboard at Night Valles Caldera, New Mexico Horseshoe 2 Fire, Arizona Morganza Floodway after Five Days of Flow Seasonal Effects of Arctic Snow and Ice Wildfires in Alberta, Canada Morganza Spillway Opens in Louisiana Avachinsky Volcano, Kamchatka Peninsula Amman, Jordan Morganza Floodway, 1973 Cold Front, Warm Front Heavy Rain in Namibia and South Africa Flooding in Memphis Honey Prairie Fire, Georgia River Deltas, Lake Ayakum, Tibet Mud Springs Volcano, Nevada Floods Spread South along the Mississippi River Flooding at the Junction of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers Tornado Track in Tuscaloosa, Alabama Flooding in Wake of Levee Breach Arctic Sea Ice Paraná River Floodplain, Northern Argentina Northwest Greenland Canyons Eruption of Grímsvötn Volcano, Iceland
Fires in Mexico and Texas Busy 2011 Fire Season in Mexico

NASA: Mexico - Incendios Forestales - Busy 2011 Fire Season in Mexico



You have an alphabetical guide in the foot of the page in the blog: solitary dog sculptor
In the blog: Solitary Dog Sculptor I, the alphabetical guide is on the right side of the page
Thanks

Usted tiene una guía alfabética al pie de la página en el blog: solitary dog sculptor
En el blog: Solitary Dog Sculptor I, la guia alfabética está en el costado derecho de la página
Gracias




Ricardo M Marcenaro - Facebook

Blogs in operation of The Solitary Dog:

solitary dog sculptor:
http://byricardomarcenaro.blogspot.com

Solitary Dog Sculptor I:
http://byricardomarcenaroi.blogspot.com

Para:
comunicarse conmigo,
enviar materiales para publicar,
propuestas comerciales:
marcenaroescultor@gmail.com

For:
contact me,
submit materials for publication,
commercial proposals:
marcenaroescultor@gmail.com

Diario La Nación
Argentina
Cuenta Comentarista en el Foro:
Capiscum

My blogs are an open house to all cultures, religions and countries. Be a follower if you like it, with this action you are building a new culture of tolerance, open mind and heart for peace, love and human respect.

Thanks :)

Mis blogs son una casa abierta a todas las culturas, religiones y países. Se un seguidor si quieres, con esta acción usted está construyendo una nueva cultura de la tolerancia, la mente y el corazón abiertos para la paz, el amor y el respeto humano.

Gracias :)





Comments (0)

Publicar un comentario

Suscribirse a: Enviar comentarios (Atom)