Published on 9 October 2019
This false-colour PROBA-V image, captured on September 18, shows an abundance of smoke plumes over Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo.
In this area, fires are common in September and October as farmers burn agricultural and logging debris to clear the way for crops and livestock and to prepare the land for new plantings of oil palm and acacia pulp.
This year, however, the fire season was more intense and the thick smoke caused schools to close, impacted air traffic and triggered health warnings from poor air quality (e.g. fine particulate matter).
Moreover, the peat fires can linger for months, until the wet season arrives and are shown to emit lots of greenhouse gases (CO2 and methane).
Check out the PROBA-V gallery for more beautiful and evocative images