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"description": "See [NASA.gov](http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/fires/main/amazon-fire-season.html)",
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{
"id": 10870,
"url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/10870/",
"page_type": "Produced Video",
"title": "Ocean Temperatures Can Predict Amazon Fire Season Severity",
"description": "By analyzing nearly a decade of satellite data, a team of scientists led by researchers from the University of California, Irvine and funded by NASA has created a model that can successfully predict the severity and geographic distribution of fires in the Amazon rain forest and the rest of South America months in advance. Though previous research has shown that human settlement patterns are the primary factor that drives the distribution of fires in the Amazon, the new research demonstrates that environmental factors—specifically small variations in ocean temperatures—amplify human impacts and underpin much of the variability in the number of fires the region experiences from one year to the next. || ",
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"alt_text": "UC Irvine scientist Jim Randerson provides an overview of the findings, which appear this week in the journal Science.For complete transcript, click here.",
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"page_type": "Visualization",
"title": "South American Fire Observations and MODIS NDVI",
"description": "From space, we can understand fires in ways that are impossible from the ground. NASA research has contributed to much improved detection of fire for scientific purposes using satellite remote sensing and geographic information systems. This visualization of South America shows fire observations made by MODerate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instruments on board the Terra and Aqua satellites . South America exhibits a steady flickering of fire across much of the Amazon rainforest with peaks of activity in September and November. Almost all of the fires in the Amazon are the direct result of human activity, including slash-and-burn agriculture, because the high moisture levels in the region prevent inhibit natural fires from occurring.More information on the Fire Information for Resource Management (FIRMS) is available at http://maps.geog.umd.edu/firms/. || ",
"release_date": "2011-10-18T19:00:00-04:00",
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"media_type": "Image",
"alt_text": "This animation shows fires over MODIS NDVI in South America from July 2002 through July 2011. The still image seen here is from July 15, 2007 where fires scorched more than 3 million acres. Naturally ocurring fires are not uncommon in the drier forests and grasslands of South America, but this type of intense, continent-spanning fire activity is almost certainly a product of human activities.",
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