Fire Season in Northern Africa Thousands of fires were burning
across the savannas of northern Africa south of the Sahara
Desert in early December 2005. The region's dry season lasts
through the winter months and into early spring, and during that
time people use fire to manage farm and range land. This image
from December 5, 2005, shows widespread fire activity (active
fire locations marked in red) detected by Aqua. A savanna is
mostly grassland with a few sparse trees; savannas are located
in areas that are too hot and dry to support forests but receive
too much rainfall to be desert. Fire plays a role here, too,
preventing the establishment of trees and effectively promoting
the spread of grasses. Savanna is the largest biome or broad
scale vegetation zone, in Africa: savanna covers about half of
the continent, while desert comprises only about a third and
tropical rainforest only a small fraction. This region was home
to large populations of wildlife, but overhunting, soil erosion,
and desertification hav