English: A thick shroud of smoke covered much of southern Central Africa in early September 2021.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Terra satellite on September 2. The countries seen in the image include, starting in the northwest and moving eastward Angola, Zambia, and Mozambique. South of those countries are northern Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe.

The smoke rises from many hundreds of fires burning across the green vegetation of the African savanna. In this location at this time of year, the smoke most likely is the result of the agricultural burning season. During the burning season, people use fire to clear brush and cropland, to drive livestock and game, and to renew pasture grasses. While the burning season typically peaks it August, a high level of fire often continues well into September. Although using fire for agricultural management on a small scale is not immediately hazardous—as long as the fire remains contained—but large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, natural resources and on the health of humans and livestock.