File:Central Asia (MODIS 2017-01-17).jpg

English: Snow blanketed the high elevations of Central Asia in early January 2017. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on January 10.

Central Asia is home to a complex of mountain ranges. In the southwest, the Hindu Kush stretch from central Afghanistan to northern Pakistan. In the north are the Pamir Mountains which meet with the Tian Shan Mountains running along the northern edge of the Taklimakan Desert. The Pamirs also meet the Karakorum Mountains in the southeast, which continue as the Himalayan Mountains.

Multiple fires burn along the Amu Darya (Amu River) in Afghanistan and Turkmenistan while additional red hotspots, marking actively burning fires, cluster in the green region of northeastern Pakistan and northwestern India. Smoke from these fires spreads across the river valley in the northwest, and along the plains south of the Himalayas. Both of these areas are rich cropland, so the fires are most likely deliberately set to manage agricultural land.