Current forest fires in India
Forest Fires and Smoke Pollution in India
13 April to 03 May 2016
The map above shows land surface temperatures from April 2016 compared to the 20002012 average for the same month. Red areas were hotter than the long-term average by as much as 12 degrees Celsius (22 degrees Fahrenheit) in some places; blue areas were below average. White pixels had normal temperatures, and gray pixels did not have enough data, most likely due to excessive cloud cover. In India, ground-based measurements recorded temperatures 4-5 degrees Celsius (810 degrees Fahrenheit) above normal. At least 300 people are reported to have died from heat-related complications during the month.
Source: NASA EarthObservatory
On 28 April 2016, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite acquired this image of fires burning across northern India. Red outlines indicate hot spots where VIIRS detected warm surface temperatures associated with the fires. Smoke has dispersed across the country
Source: https://lance.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov
On 30 April 2016, NASA’s Terra satellite of the AERONET Nainital Subset captured this image of smoke plumes in northern India.
Source: https://lance.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov
Other news from the media: Note: The hyperlinks on the left side of each news are password-protected (User ID and password to enter the GFMC database are available for partners of GFMC). The links on the right side (in brackets) are leading to the original news source; sometimes these news are expiring rather swiftly – a reason for the establishment of the internal GFMC database):
- India: Local Hands Fan Forest Fires (published by www.newindianexpress.com 04 May 2016)
- India: Forest fires: NGT issues show-cause notices to Uttarakhand, HP (published by http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com 03 May 2016)
- India: Maharashtra Seeks Proposal To Buy Technology To Tackle Forest Fires (published by www.ndtv.com 03 May 2016)
- India: Forest fires threaten Uttarakhands status as tourist haven: Experts (published by www.hindustantimes.com 03 May 2016)
- India: We are given away as fire offerings: Men fighting Uttarakhand inferno (published by www.hindustantimes.com 03 May 2016)
- India: In Uttarakhand Fires, Devastating Impact On Glaciers, Birds: 10 Developments (published by www.ndtv.com 03 May 2016)
- India: Uttarakhand disaster shows India is ill-prepared for forest fires (published by www.hindustantimes.com 03 May 2016)
- India: More forest fires in 4 months this year than in 2015: Javadekar (published by www.hindustantimes.com 02 May 2016)
- India: As Firefighters Gain Control In Uttarakhand, Police File 46 Cases, Arrest 3 (published by www.ndtv.com 02 May 2016)
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India: Disaster response force deployed to control Uttarakhand forest fires (published by www.hindustantimes.com 30 April 2016)
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India: Woman, 6-y-old-son, burnt alive in Nainital forest fire (published by http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com 27 April 2016)
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India: Contingency plan formulated to deal with forest fires (published by www.business-standard.com 26 April 2016)
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India: Flora & fauna perish in Kumaon forest fires (published by www.tribuneindia.com 25 April 2016)
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India: Hundreds of forests engulfed by fire in last fortnight in State (published by www.prameyanews7.com 16 April 2016)
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India. Aravalis fire wrecks 2 sq km forest area, doused after 8 hrs (published by http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com15 April 2016)
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India: Wildfire incidents on rise in north Kumaon as summer knocks (published by http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com 13 April 2016)
From 04 November 2015
On 30 October 2015, the Visible Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi NPP satellite captured this image of fires burning in the Indian state of Punjab. Red outlines indicate hot spots where the sensor detected unusually warm surface temperatures generally associated with fires. Thick plumes of smoke drifted from the hot spots. The smoke likely stemmed primarily from agricultural fires. Farmers often set fire to their fields to clear them before the growing season, which in Punjab resumes in November.
Source: NASA Earth Observatory
Comments by the Global Fire Monitoring Center (GFMC)
Agricultural burning burning in the Indian state of Punjab and further along the foothills of the Himalayas is a common phenomenon that is observed annually. In the context of the current regional smoke pollution in SE Asia caused by land-use fires in Indonesia (see GFMC Summary on Land-use Fires and Smoke Pollution in Indonesia of 03 October 2015) the smoke pollution on the Indian Subcontinent is receiving more attention than in earlier years.
According to a report of Bloomberg of 04 October 2015 the air pollution meter near the Indian parliament in New Delhi on Wednesday morning recorded high levels of PM2.5 toxic particles that lead to respiratory diseases were 27 times the safe limit. The reading of 675 micrograms per cubic meter of air recorded by Bloomberg News exceeded the highest measured this year in Singapore, where PM2.5 levels touched 471 in October 2015 in the city state.
In September 2015 Science Team around Jos Lelieveld at the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, Germany, the parent institution of the GFMC, published the study:
J. Lelieveld, J.S. Evans, M. Fnais, D. Giannadaki and A. Pozzer (2015) The contribution of outdoor air pollution sources to premature mortality on a global scale. Research Letter, Nature Vol. 525, doi:10.1038/nature15371
This study reveals that air pollution causes more than 3 million premature deaths annually. The database of the research team reveals that more than 180,000 premature deaths per year globally are due to vegetation fire smoke emissions. More than 56,000 premature deaths are attributed to vegetation fire smoke emissions in India alone. See also:
WildlandFire relatednews from the Media: Note: The hyperlinks on the left side of each news are password-protected (User ID and password to enter the GFMC database are
available for partners of GFMC). The links on the right side (in brackets) are leading to the original news source; sometimes these news are expiring rather swiftly – a reason for the
establishment of the internal GFMC database):
- India: Plan to fell trees in forest fire lines (published by www.thetimes.co.uk 04 May 2016)
- India: Forest fire threatens former Raj capital (published by www.thetimes.co.uk 04 May 2016)
- India: Experts study impact of forest fire on flora, fauna (published by www.tribuneindia.com 05 May 2016)
- India: Banasura under threat of forest fires (published by http://english.mathrubhumi.com 04 May 2016)
- India: Uttarakhand forest fire: Rain brings relief, death toll reaches seven (published by http://indianexpress.com 04 May 2016)
- India: Toxic Air in India Worse Than Singapore Haze a Test for Modi (published by www.bloomberg.com 04 November 2015)
- ASEAN: 11th Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the ASEAN Agreement on Transboundary Haze Pollution (published by www.asean.org 30 October 2015)
- World: Smoke From Wildfires Is Killing Hundreds of Thousands of People (published by http://news.nationalgeographic.com 29 October 2015
GFMC India Photo Archive
See also earlier reports about fires in India
2012
2010
Earlier
https://gfmc.online/current/archive/archive.htm#JAPAN