English: On April 20, 2023, multiple fires were burning in Iberá National Park, a protected wilderness in northeastern Argentina. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the region on that same day. Actively burning fires are marked in red and heavy gray smoke plumes pour from some of the larger fires in the southwest.

Iberá National Park is a protected area of wetlands and grasslands established in 2018 with land acquired by conservation groups and then donated to the government of Argentina. Encompassing 1,370 square kilometers (530 square miles) of the Corrientes region, the park is part of a “rewilding” program which aims to reintroduce keystone species, such as jaguars and capybaras, that have previously been driven away by hunting, ranching and other human activities.

Fire activity has been higher than average, especially in and around the park, for the last two years. Several fires reportedly began burning in late December 2022 and continued to burn through February 2023. Using the NASA Worldview App to view daily MODIS imagery, fire activity appeared to diminish through March, but by mid-April, some fires appeared to reignite while additional hot spots appeared.

The cause of the individual fires is not clear, but the region has sweltered under repetitive heat waves this summer, with temperatures as high as 104˚F (40˚C) in mid-February. In addition, much of northeastern Argentina is suffering from long-standing drought. The combination of high air temperatures and dry vegetation creates a high risk of wildfire.