About 400 million years ago, some of the rocks that make up the
Falkland Islands were part of the supercontinent ofGondwana, crunched between southern Africa and
what is now Queen Maud Land, Antarctica. When tectonic forces tore Gondwana
apart, the Falkland Islands were left behind like crumbs as a massive geologic
cookie was split into pieces.
Today, the islands are situated about 600 kilometers (400 miles)
east of Argentina and 1,350 kilometers (850 miles) north of the Antarctic
Circle. There are 778 islands in this territory of the United Kingdom, but just
two large islands—East Falkland and West Falkland—comprise the bulk of the
Connecticut-sized landmass.
The Falkland Islands have a cool, moist climate that varies
minimally throughout the year. Average annual temperatures are about 5.6°C
(42°F). Temperatures reach as high as 24°C (76°F) in summer and as low as -5°C
(22°F). Rainfall is comparatively low and evenly distributed throughout the
year, averaging 625 millimeters (25 inches) in Stanley, the capital city.
Few trees grow on the islands. Intead, grassland and heath—which
is widely used as pastureland for sheep and cattle—dominate the landscape. The
islands are home to nearly 500,000 sheep and 5,000 cattle, and the animals far
outnumber the 2,600 people permanent human residents. About 80 percent of the
people reside in Stanley.
Farmers often burn pastureland in the early spring to encourage
growth. When ewes and lambs are born, they move the young animals to
recently-burned areas to graze. On November 17, 2012, the Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer (MODIS)
instrument on NASA’s Aqua satellite
captured a glimpse of a few of agricultural fires west of Stanley. Red outlines
indicate hot spots where MODIS detected the unusually warm surface temperatures
associated with fires.
The same satellite instrument captured another
view of
agricultural fires on East Falkland in October 2012.
· References
· British Geological Survey. (n.d.) The Geology of the Falkland
Islands. Accessed
November 19, 2012.
NASA image by Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption
by Adam Voiland.
Instrument:
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