Image of fires and burn scars on the border of Bolivia and Brazil, acquired on 4 October 2020 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, aboard NASA's Terra satellite. This false-color image is comprised of MODIS bands 7-2-1. This band combination is useful for highlighting burned areas (shown here in deep red).
Burned areas or fire-affected areas are characterized by deposits of charcoal and ash, removal of vegetation and/or the alteration of vegetation structure. When bare soil becomes exposed, the brightness in Band 1 may increase, but that may be offset by the presence of black carbon residue; the near infrared (Band 2) will become darker, and Band 7 becomes more reflective. When assigned to red in the image, Band 7 will show burn scars as deep or bright red, depending on the type of vegetation burned, the amount of residue, or the completeness of the burn.
View a comparison of imagery from 4 July 2020 and 4 October 2020. Note the red burned areas/burn scars in the October image.
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