Amazon clearance fires, satellite image. North is at top. This area is in the region of the Amazon rainforest in the state of Rondonia, in western Brazil. This is one of the most deforested areas, and is the frontier for logging and clearing activities. One clearing method is to use fire, and this thick smoke (grey) covers the forest for much of the dry season. The year this image was obtained was the most intense biomass-burning season that decade to date. This image, many kilometres across, was obtained on 30 September 2007 by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on NASA's Terra satellite.