The peat swamp and lowland rainforests of southeastern Sumatra were ablaze on October 7, 2004. This image of the Indonesian island was captured along with active fire detections by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite. The fires have been burning on Sumatra off and on for nearly two months, filling the skies with smoke that has interfered with air travel and led to numerous unhealthy-air-quality warnings. It might seem strange to think of a swam...