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South America at night from space. Colour- coded image, based on satellite data, of South America at night. North is at top. In this image city lights appear yellow, flares from oil production areas are red, and burning vegetation is purple. Forested parts of the continent, mainly the Amazonian rainforests, are being burnt to clear land for agricultural use. Oil production is mostly concentrated in the north-west of the continent. The data for this picture was produced as a mosaic of images from the American Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) spacecraft. (KEYSTONE/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY/COPYRIGHT W.T. SULLIVAN III)