How can a flood prepare the ground for fire?

An inland delta is a good example of channels and water-fed vegetation. In the Okavango, satellite images taken in 2018 show two simultaneous movements: the progression of a seasonal flood and that of a front of fire.

The contradiction is only apparent. Flooded areas can produce abundant vegetation that, under other conditions, becomes combustible. The researchers cited by NASA describe in particular the propensity to burn some flooded plains intermittently.

But that doesn’t mean that the water ignites the fire. The article attributes most of the departures to human activities. But the flood is part of the history of the material that can burn. Understanding the landscape therefore requires looking at the seasons together: what protects or nourishes at one time can contribute, later, to a completely different phenomenon.