November 15, 2020 - Fires Continue in India and Pakistan

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   Fires Continue in India and Pakistan
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   Hazy skies covered much of northern India through October and
   mid-November 2020. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer
   (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite acquired a true-color image
   that gave a snapshot of the continuing haze. The thickest smoke and
   haze blankets the foothills of the Himalaya Mountains, especially over
   the Punjab region of India. A river of haze spreads across the Indus
   River Valley to reach the Arabian Sea. A thinner haze hangs over most
   of the visible area of India.

   Hazy skies are a common occurrence over several states in northern
   India in November. After crops are harvested, winds often spread a
   river of smoke across much of the Indo-Gangetic Plain.

   Industrial pollution, vehicle emissions and dust contribute to the
   haze, most of it comes from crop-burning—especially in the states of
   Punjab and Haryana, where rice and wheat are widely grown. Burning
   typically peaks during the first week of November, a time when many
   farmers set fire to leftover rice stalks and straw after harvest, a
   practice known as stubble or paddy burning. The burning often coincides
   with falling temperatures and slow wind speeds, meteorological
   conditions that can lead to temperature inversions, which trap smoke in
   place.

   A review of MODIS imagery from the region shows a few fires popping up
   in the fertile alluvial fields of Punjab, India on September 29 with
   only a slight haze over the region. By mid-October, fire activity in
   India had greatly intensified, with the addition of some fires in
   northeastern Pakistan. Haze had also greatly increased over the region
   as well as across India.

   Image Facts
   Satellite:  Terra
   Date Acquired: 11/12/2020
   Resolutions:  1km (339.1 KB),  500m (1.2 MB),  250m (3.8 MB)
   Bands Used: 1,4,3
   Image Credit: MODIS Land Rapid Response Team, NASA GSFC



https://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2020-11-15
 
