ISS040-E-103496

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Spacecraft nadir point: 0.5° N, 53.9° W

Photo center point: 7.5° S, 56.0° W

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Nadir to Photo Center: South

Spacecraft Altitude: 224 nautical miles (415km)
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Image Caption: Amazon forest burning season, Brazil

On an unusually cloud-free day at the height of the dry season in Amazonia, several fires were burning, giving rise to a broad smoke pall easily seen from the International Space Station (ISS). Parts of the ISS appear along the margins of the image. Against the backdrop of the dark green rainforest, several fires follow the major highway BR 163 (lower center of the image to the top left). Fires are set to clear patches of forest for agriculture, a process that reveals red-brown soils. A long line of new cleared patches snakes east from BR 163 towards the remote valley of the Rio Crepori.

Extensive deforested areas in Brazil's state of Mato Grosso appear as tan areas across the top of the image. Fires show the advance of deforestation into the state of Para, the area shown in most of this view. Para is now second after Mato Grosso in terms of deforestation acreage.