Image Cache: Here is a trash fire. This new image posted by the NASA Earth Observatory shows the devastating smoke cloud coming off the Deonar dumping ground in Mumbai, India. According to the report, the landfill handles 3700 metric tonnes of waste ever day, accounting for about a third of the city’s garbage.
Browse through the cool photos, animations and diagrams in Gizmodo’s Image Cache here.
NASA sensors first detected signs of the fire last week. The above true colour image was captured by the Landsat 8. Though it’s hard to see from space, some of the trash piles are a startling nine storeys high. Here’s a more zoomed out image, which makes what is a horrible urban ecological disaster look beautiful.
There’s no word on what started the fire, but as NASA notes, there are some reports that it might have been done on purpose.
[NASA]