2002 – Page 5

GFMC: Bush and Forest Fires in Australia

2002

Bush and Forest Fires in Australia

25 October 2002

Latest Satellite Image:

Heat signatures (red) and smoke(light green haze) are visible from fires burning in Australia in these MODIS(Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) images.
Source: OSEI

ModisLand Rapid Response System

These image were acquired by the Moderate-resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on 20 October 2002 (left and middle) and23October 2002 (right) showing fires burning in Australia. Resolution of all images is 2km
For details see: http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/products_rr.html
and image search support at:
https://gfmc.online/fireglobe/current/MODIS.htm

Firesobserved by BIRD (Bi-spectral Infrared Detection)

Fragment of a BIRD scene of fire fronts West of Sydney, NSW, depicted on20 October 2002.

For a detailed description of the olour code for energyrelease used, please refer to: DLR Micro-Satellite BIRD Mission – Hot Spot Detection Results.
Source: German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft und Raumfahrt -DLR);BIRD website: http://spacesensors.dlr.de/SE/bird/

Fire Weather Forecast for the Pacific Region

Fire Weather Index for the
Pacific Region for tomorrow.
(Source: ECPCFire Weather Index Forecast)

For more information on Australia see the IFFN country notes and have a look at the Australian and New Zealand links.
For background Information see also: Recent Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin

GFMC: Bush and Forest Fires in Australia

2002

Bush and Forest Fires in Australia

13 November 2002

Latest Satellite Image:

This true-color ModerateResolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) image captured by the Aqua satellite shows numerous large bushfires (red) burning throughout the region onNovember 11, 2002.

Brief respite for Australia firefighters

Light rain and an unexpected drop in temperatures have come as a brief respite to Australian firefighters battling more than 100 bushfires in the state of New South Wales.Firefighters were able to bring many of the fires under control around the city of Sydney, despite winds of up to 25 mph (40 km/h) fanning new blazes.”All fires in the Sydney area are contained,” said a fire official.
About 3,000 firefighters have been deployed across NSW as Australia experiences the driest conditions in 100 years.
Almost 470,000 hectares (1.16 million acres) of land have been burned in the state – one of five hit by what officials say is becoming one of Australia’s worst bushfire seasons.
Officials say the threat will remain high, with forecasters predicting an early return to high temperatures and low humidity.

Worst in a decade
“These fire conditions are the worst we have had in generations. This is as serious as it gets,” said state Premier Bob Carr at a memorial service in Sydney for firefighters who lost their lives last year.”The state is baking dry and the drought and the fire season are on us at the same time,” he said.Rural Fire Services chief Phil Koperberg said they were expecting firefighters from around Australia to arrive to relieve their colleagues in NSW.”We’re taking advantage of the lull in other states by inviting them to assist us, thus allowing some of our very, very stressed fellows to get some rest,” Mr Koperberg said.A total fire ban has been declared across the state and many national parks have been closed.

Water fears
In the Hunter Valley wine district, 75 miles (120 km) north of Sydney, winds have pushed flames across 61,000 hectares (151,000 acres) near the town of Cessnock.Residents near the fire front were hosing down their homes in case the blaze leapt containment lines set by firefighters, but no evacuations had been ordered, the Associated Press news agency reported.To the south, the fire which destroyed five homes and several industrial properties around the town of Mittagong on Saturday continued to burn.

Source: BBC

Firesobserved by BIRD (Bi-spectral Infrared Detection)

Fragment of a BIRD scene of fires near Sydney, depicted on 09 October 2002.

For a detailed description of the olour code for energyrelease used, please refer to: DLRMicro-Satellite BIRD Mission – Hot Spot Detection Results.
Source: German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrumfür Luft und Raumfahrt -DLR); BIRD website: http://spacesensors.dlr.de/SE/bird/

Fire Weather Forecast for the Pacific Region

Fire Weather Index for the
Pacific Region for tomorrow.
(Source: ECPCFire Weather Index Forecast)

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin

National Environment Agency

2002

Accessibility of
PSI Readings

FAQs on Haze

Effect of Smoke Haze

Air Cleaning
Devices for Buildings

Portable
Air Cleaners

Other Useful Links

PSI Reading

24-hr PSI at 4 pmDate Oct 2002Nov 20021535625551355414594155534649327573985954962531047341152361252521370146915921656174818571959205121372253236224622560266427582844295230533161

NEA Call Centre Hotline: 1800-7319222 / Fax: 67347763 / Enquiry Email: Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg
Dial-a-weather Hotline: 65427788 / Weather Fax-on-demand: 65427789

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin

National Environment Agency

2002

Accessibility of
PSI Readings

FAQs on Haze

Effect of Smoke Haze

Air Cleaning
Devices for Buildings

Portable
Air Cleaners

Other Useful Links

PSI Reading

The 24-hr PSI at 4 pm on 12 November 2002 was 52.

This put overall air quality in the ‘moderate’ range.
Pollutant responsible for the 24-hr PSI : Ozone.

Pollutant24-hr Subindex at 4 pm on 12 November 2002PM1051Sulphur Dioxide38Ozone52Carbon Monoxide16Nitrogen Dioxide*-

( Note*: A subindex is only reported when one-hour concentration exceeds 1130µg/m3)

Current & Previous Month 24-hr PSI Readings

Click this to see the schematic diagram of NEA’s Telemetric Air Quality Monitoring & Management System

NEA Call Centre Hotline: 1800-7319222 / Fax: 67347763 / Enquiry Email: Contact_NEA@nea.gov.sg
Dial-a-weather Hotline: 65427788 / Weather Fax-on-demand: 65427789

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin

GFMC: Forest Fires in the United States

2002

Forest Fires in the United States

13 November 2002

Wildland Fire Update
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) based in Boise (Idaho) provides key information on current wildland fire situations, related information and background materials. The following information is updated daily and can be accessed directly:

State-by-State daily and year-to-date summary of fire activities
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html

Year-to-date State-by-State total number of wildland fires and area burned (table)
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfnmap.html

Daily locations of large fires (map)
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/firemap.html

The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) provides daily situation reports. These reports include:

Incident Management Situation Reports (fires and area burned reported to NICC). The files include current, previous and archived reports
Prescribed Fire and Wildland Fire Use (year-to-date fires and area burned reported to NICC, posted weekly on Monday mornings)
http://www.nifc.gov/news/RXWFUYTD.htm

Archived NICC Incident Management Reports (recent daily reports and archived daily reports 1994-1997) are provided by the Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI)

The National Wildfire Information Interagency provides detailed information on each individual state with active fires.

Fire Weather & Fire Danger Information
The Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) is a contribution of “The Fire Behavior Research Work Unit”, Missoula (Montana USA). The broad area component of the Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) generates maps of selected fire weather and fire danger components.

Fire Danger (Potential) is a normalized adjective rating class across different fuel models and station locations. It is based on information provided by local station managers about the primary fuel model, fire danger index selected to reflect staffing level, and climatological class breakpoints. Low danger (Class 1) is green and extreme potential (Class 5) is red.

fire danger (observed time) fire danger (forecasted)

Latest fire dangermap for the United States (observation time) and forecasted fire danger map forthe subsquent day
(Source: WAFS)

Dead fuel moisture responds solely to ambient environmental conditions and is critical in determining fire potential. Dead fuel moistures are classed by timelag.

10-HR Fuel Moisture 100-HR Fuel Moisture 1000-HR Fuel Moisture

Latest fuel moisture maps for conterminousUS
(Source: WAFS)

The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is a soil/duffdrought index. Factors in the index are maximum daily temperature, dailyprecipitation, antecedent precipitation, and annual precipitation. The indexranges from 0 (no drought) to 800 (extreme drought) (details).

Latest Keetch-Byram drought index map for conterminousUS
(Source: WAFS)

For more Satellite Images displaying recent fires in the US, please visit NASA´SEarth Observatory at:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?topic=fire. EarthObservatory provides MODIS and Landsat Scenes of fires allover the planet.

For more information on the recent fire situation in the US see also: Recent Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics.

Long-range weather forecasts
National Weather Service
Long-range, 30-day weather forecasts are predicting above-normal temperatures for the southern tier of states from southern California to Florida and throughout the Midwest (see 30 and 90-day forecast maps).

30 and 90-day temperature and precipitation forecast maps(August2002 to October 2002)
(Source: National Weather Service)

For further information see: Wildfire Season Forecast of the Florida Division of Forestry
For further information you may also see to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

For background information on the Southern Area see the Edited Version of the Southern Area Intelligence Briefing Paper for 22 April 2001.

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin

GFMC: Forest Fires in the Russian Federation

2002

Forest Fires in the Russian Federation

04 Oktober 2002

Avialesookhrana from the National Forest Fire Centre of Russia provides up-to-date NOAA images for the whole of the Russian Federation and neighbour territories. The Space Monitoring Information Support Laboratory provides extensive links to sites with satellite imagery for the Russian Federation, meteorological information as well as fire related images are accessible.

The NOAA AVHRR satellite image composite shows fire activities in the Russian Federation.

Latest NOAA 12&14 AVHRR composite
The red squares indicate regions of active fires. For details the GFMC readers are encouraged to use the hyperlinks provided by Avialesookhrana, the Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service of the Federal Forest service of Russia.
(Source: Avialesookhrana cloudiness maps)

Latest fire situation report by Andrey Eritsov, Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service of Russia (Avialesookhrana), 18 September 2002:

“According to the situation report of the Ministry of Natural Resources of 2 October 2002 a total of 139 fires affected 13,679 ha forested and 7,776 ha non-forested areas. In addition 6 fires occurred that were put out the same day when they started.
Since the beginning of the 2002 fire season for Ministry of Natural Resources a total of 35,131 fires affected 1,105,183 ha forested and 493,563 ha non-forested land.
Highest fire activities were recorded in Chita (75 fires), Amur (20 fires) and Burjatia (12 fires) regions.
Through all of Russia on fire fighting have been involved 1,893 people, 8 aircraft, 339 bulldozers, tractors and engines.”
Source: Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service of Russia (Avialesookhrana)

For more information on the recent fire situation in Russia see: Recent Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics.

Eurasian Experimental Fire Weather Information System
The system has been developed by forest fire researchers from Canada, Russia and Germany is displayed on this website starting 18 July 2001. Complete information and a set of daily fire weather and fire behaviour potential maps covering Eurasia (the Baltic Region, Eastern Europe, countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Mongolia) can be accessed at:
https://gfmc.online/fwf/eurasia1.htm

Example of the Eurasian Experimental Fire Weather Information System:
Latest map of the Experimental Fire Weather Index (FWI) for Russia and neighbouring countries

Daily Fire Occurrence and Fire Danger Maps of the Fire Laboratory of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk
Selected fire occurrence maps, satellite images and a forest fire danger map are prepared daily by the Russian GFMC correspondent Dr. Anatoly Sukhinin, Fire Laboratory of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk, in collaboration with the Emergency Situation Monitoring and Forecasting Agency, Krasnoyarsk branch. The maps are produced on the base of satellite data (classification by the NOAA AVHRR). They show the fire locations (by latitude and longitude) and the area affected by fire (red signature, size in ha). The red arrow at each fire location points to the nearest populated place. The terms Oblast or Kray used in the maps are designations of administrative regions. A map showing the boundaries ofadministrative regions and a legend is included below.

Map legend

Administrative boundaries

Overview map showing large fire locations detected over the last 10 days

Overview

Latest maps maps showing fire activities (selection)

Amurskaya Oblast

Amurskaya Oblast

Altayski Krai

Kazakhstan

Kazakhstan

Buryatia Republic

Novosibirskaia Oblast

For more details on fire in the Russian Federation, Mongolia and China: See IFFN Country Notes. Scientific details on fire in the Russian Federation are provided by the Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN) report.

Bibliography on fire in ecosystems of boreal Eurasia:
One of the results of the first international fire science conference in the Russian Federation (1993) was the publication of a monograph on fire in boreal Eurasia, including some selected contributions on boreal North America. The literature cited in the monograph contains numerous publications which in many cases are not easily accessible. To facilitate literature search the bibliographical sources are provided by topic (chapter).
Goldammer, J.G. and V.V.Furyaev. 1996. Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 390 p.

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin

GFMC: Meterological Conditions and Fire in South East Asia

2002
SouthEast Asia

RegularFire and Weather Update

04 Oktober 2002

The Meteorological ServicesDivision of Singapore provides a daily updated schematic of areasaffected by fires and smoke haze within the South East Asian region.Additionally, regional surface winds are displayed.

Latest map of surface winds andsmoke haze/hot spots observed over cloud-free areas
(Source: Meteorological ServicesDivision of Singapore)

Forecastsof winds and surface pressure for the South East Asian region basedon Numerical Weather Product Models are also providedby Meteorological ServicesDivision of Singapore.

The Integrated Forest Fire Management Project (IFFM) in Samarinda provides regulary updatedmaps generated by NOAA-AVHRR showing active land-use fires and wildfires inBrunei and the Indonesian and Malaysian provinces on BorneoIsland.

Latest fire overview map for Borneo
(Source: IFFM FireMaps)

The Provincial Fire Management Center, Samarinda, reports on the weekly fire situation in East Kalimantan on24 September 2002:
“Based on data from six weather stations (Indonesian Meterological Service) the following Fire Danger situation has been determined.

Average Fire Danger for all six location: Moderate.
Samarinda: EXTREME
Balikpapan: Moderate
Tanjung Selor:Low
Tarakan:Low
Tanjung Redep:High
Nunukan:Low

The Readiness level for East Kalimantan based and determined on : Fire Danger Rating System (BMG), Hotspot (UPTD PKHL/IFFM), Weather Forecast (www.weather.com), Observed Smoke and Haze, Surface winds, Fire activities report from local fire services in Siaga II .

For more detailed information, see also: Weekly fire situation report of EastKalimantan (summary), compiled and analyzed by the Provincial Fire Management Center, Samarinda.The complete(detailed) report willbe sent on request. Contact: uptd_pkhl@samarinda.org

The Forest Fire Prevention and Control Project (FFPCP)
The Forest Fire Prevention and Control Project (FFPCP) in Palembang (Sumatra) closed on 30 November 2001. The South Sumatra Forest Fire Management Project (SSFFMP) is expected to start within the second half of the year 2002 and will continue the work of FFPCP. Meanwhile the daily fire map (hot-spot) and monthly drought index for Sumatra will continue to be updated from time to time.

Latest fire overview map for Sumatra
(Source: FFPCP)

South East AsiaFire Monitoring by ANDES
The Asia Pacific Network for Disaster Mitigation using Earth ObservationSatellite (ANDES) provides daily fire maps of mainland and insular South EastAsia. The latest maps can be accessed through the ANDESwebsite. The map below shows the latest fire map of mainland SE Asia(Thailand, Myanmar, Lao, Cambodia, Viet Nam).

LatestANDESfire location map of mainland South East Asia.
The map is generated on the basis of two satellite sensors (NOOA-AVHRR, DMSP/OLS).
Source: ANDES

Review of Regional Weather and Smoke Haze
(Meteorological Service of Singapore2 September 2002)
Mostly dry weather conditions were observed over Kalimantan and parts of central and southern Sumatra since the beginning of August 2002. As a result, the number of hotspots over Sumatra and in particular, over Borneo went up to more than 380 and 1,200 respectively in the 14 – 18 Aug 2002 period.

Daily hot spots counts over Kalimantan and Sumatra from 1July to 18 August 2002

NOAA-12 satellite pictures between 16 and 18 August 2002 overBorneo indicated widespread moderate to thick smoke haze covering most parts ofKalimantan, with the smoke haze spreading over the southern half of Sarawak andparts of the southern South China Sea (see: Smokeand hotspots over Borneo on 18 Aug 2002). In Sumatra, whilethe situation is not as serious, increased smoke haze have also been observed.The prevailing south-westerly wind has blown some smoke haze over PeninsularMalaysia and Singapore (see Hotspot/SmokeHaze over Sumatra on 17 Aug 2002).

Mostly weak El Niño conditions prevailed during July and August 2002, with sea-surface temperature (SST) anomalies remaining greater than 1°C throughout the central equatorial Pacific between 170°E and 120°W (left image). The Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) has been negative values since March 2002 (right image).

Left: Sea-Surface Temperature Anomalies (SSTA)in Region NINO 3.4 over the last decade
Right: Southern Oscillation Index (SOI)over the last decade
(Source: MeteorologicalServices Division of Singapore)

Weather and Haze Outlook
(MeteorologicalServices Division of Singapore 2 September 2002)

“Most coupled modeland statistical model forecasts indicate that El Niño conditions are likely tocontinue through the end of 2002 and into early 2003. While there isconsiderable uncertainty in the forecasts about the timing and intensity of thepeak of this warm episode, all of the forecasts indicate that it will be muchweaker than the 1997-98 El Niño. Thus, it is likely that the global impacts ofthis warm episode should be correspondingly weaker than those observed duringthe very strong 1997-98 El Niño.
With the above assessment, a weak toat most moderate El Niño is expected to persist in the next 6 to 9 months. Withthe current SW Monsoon season, drier-than-average conditions can be expectedover Indonesia, particularly in southern Sumatra and Kalimantan in the next 2months. While widespread prolonged dry weather conditions and severe smoke hazeare not likely for the rest of the year, periods of slight to moderate haze areexpected in the region. Occurrences of moderate to thick smoke haze canalso be expected over some parts of southern Sumatra and Kalimantan should dryweather conditions continue prevail.”

The GFMC displays selected and daily updated global andAsia-Pacific ExperimentalClimate Prediction Center (ECPC) Fire Weather Forecasts.These examples allow a quicklook and provide daily and weekly total forecastsand forecasted monthly totals. For background information refer to the ECPCproducts description page.

tomorrow

weekly

month September

Fire Weather Index (FWI) forecast for thisweek (left) and the predictedFWI total for next month (right) for the Western Pacific (1-3) and the PacificOcean (4-6) regions.
The weekly total forecast and the monthly forecasted total refer to 00:00 hrsUTC,which is local noon at dateline (180° longitude). Forecast time is 12:00 hrsnoon UTC (Greenwich)corresponding to local evening time in mainland and insular SE Asia.
(Source: ECPCFire Weather Index Forecast)

The ASEANFire Weather Information System (ASFWIS) is a co-operation betweenASEAN and the Canadian Forest Service. It provides maps describing the currentfire weather situation in South East Asia. This system is based upon theCanadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS) (for further infomation tothe CFFDRS refer to ASFWIS). Studies have shown that the CFFDRS is applicableoutside of Canada. Currently it is also used in a modified form in New Zealand(see References). In NewZealand the Fire Weather Indices Fine Fuel Moisture Code (FFMC) and the InitialSpread Index (ISI) represent the fire danger in the scrublands. The DuffMoisture Code (DMC) is also applicable in South East Asia, because itpotentially describes the moisture state of the upper peat layers in peat andpeat swamp forests. All three parameters may serve as a suitable indicator offorest fire danger in South East Asia.

The updated ASFWIS maps show fire weather, fuel conditions andfire behaviour parameters for South East Asia:

Fine Fuel Moisture Code

Duff Moisture Code

Drought Code

Initial Spread Index

Buildup Index

Fire Weather Index

Latest output maps of the ASFWIS
(Source: ASFWIS)

Haze Prevention Group
The industrial initiative to combat haze in SE Asia provides a website which includes information about the objectives of this industrial initiative and projects implemented to reduce wildfires and haze in Indonesia.

The ASEAN Haze Action Online provides the following information:

Monitoring: Hyperlinks to institutions involved in regional monitoring and prediction of fire and smoke haze

Haze News: ASEAN Transboundary Haze Update (updated daily)

Intranet: Information and possible participation in the ASEAN Haze Action Online Intranet Information Services (for associated registered participants)

Mobilization Plan: Model Fire Suppression Mobilization Plan

Inventory: Inventory and analysis of forest and land fire suppression capabilities

Haze Forum: Communication platform on fire and smoke-haze issues in the ASEAN region

Calendar: Fire and haze-related events can be identified by a search modus

For further information, please also have a look to the current and archived IFFN Country Notes.

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin

GFMC: Forest Fires in the United States

2002
Forest Fires in the United States

04 Oktober 2002

Wildland Fire Update
The National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC) based in Boise (Idaho) provides key information on current wildland fire situations, related information and background materials. The following information is updated daily and can be accessed directly:

State-by-State daily and year-to-date summary of fire activities
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfn.html

Year-to-date State-by-State total number of wildland fires and area burned (table)
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/nfnmap.html

Daily locations of large fires (map)
http://www.nifc.gov/fireinfo/firemap.html

The National Interagency Coordination Center (NICC) provides daily situation reports. These reports include:

Incident Management Situation Reports (fires and area burned reported to NICC). The files include current, previous and archived reports

Prescribed Fire and Wildland Fire Use (year-to-date fires and area burned reported to NICC, posted weekly on Monday mornings)
http://www.nifc.gov/news/RXWFUYTD.htm

Archived NICC Incident Management Reports (recent daily reports and archived daily reports 1994-1997) are provided by the Center for International Disaster Information (CIDI)

The National Wildfire Information Interagency provides detailed information on each individual state with active fires.

Fire Weather & Fire Danger Information
The Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) is a contribution of “The Fire Behavior Research Work Unit”, Missoula (Montana USA). The broad area component of the Wildland Fire Assessment System (WFAS) generates maps of selected fire weather and fire danger components.

Fire Danger (Potential) is a normalized adjective rating class across different fuel models and station locations. It is based on information provided by local station managers about the primary fuel model, fire danger index selected to reflect staffing level, and climatological class breakpoints. Low danger (Class 1) is green and extreme potential (Class 5) is red.

fire danger (observed time) fire danger (forecasted)

Latest fire dangermap for the United States (observation time) and forecasted fire danger map forthe subsquent day
(Source: WAFS)

Dead fuel moisture responds solely to ambient environmental conditions and is critical in determining fire potential. Dead fuel moistures are classed by timelag.

10-HR Fuel Moisture 100-HR Fuel Moisture 1000-HR Fuel Moisture

Latest fuel moisture maps for conterminousUS
(Source: WAFS)

The Keetch-Byram Drought Index (KBDI) is a soil/duffdrought index. Factors in the index are maximum daily temperature, dailyprecipitation, antecedent precipitation, and annual precipitation. The indexranges from 0 (no drought) to 800 (extreme drought) (details).

Latest Keetch-Byram drought index map for conterminousUS
(Source: WAFS)

For more Satellite Images displaying recent fires in the US, please visit NASA´SEarth Observatory at:
http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?topic=fire. EarthObservatory provides MODIS and Landsat Scenes of fires allover the planet.

For more information on the recent fire situation in the US see also: Recent Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics.

Long-range weather forecasts
National Weather Service
Long-range, 30-day weather forecasts are predicting above-normal temperatures for the southern tier of states from southern California to Florida and throughout the Midwest (see 30 and 90-day forecast maps).

30 and 90-day temperature and precipitation forecast maps(August2002 and August to October 2002)
(Source: National Weather Service)

For further information see: Wildfire Season Forecast of the Florida Division of Forestry
For further information you may also see to the U.S. Drought Monitor.

For background information on the Southern Area see the Edited Version of the Southern Area Intelligence Briefing Paper for 22 April 2001.

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin

Forest Fires in South Africa

2002

Fires in Central and Southern Africa

4 October 2002

Latest Satellite Image

Image showing heat signatures and smoke plumes in South Africa. Imagery acquired by the Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) sensor on 25 September 2002. Resolution 500m.

Even for a region that sees a lot fires during the agricultural season, this scene seems to reveal an exceptional number of fires for countries from east-central to southern Africa. This true-color image was acquired by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite on September 25, 2002. Hundreds of fire detections are indicated by red dots. In the top center of the image is Lake Malawi, which is bounded on the west by Malawi, on the northeast by Tanzania, and on the southeast by Mozambique. Other countries visible in the image are (north-south along left edge) Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Republic of South Africa, and Swaziland (bottom center). Agricultural fires have been part of the ecological cycles in Africa for perhaps thousands of years, used to clear land and regenerate pasture. Scientists are studying these cycles to assess their impact on air quality, global warming, and ecosystem change.
Source: NASA´s Earth Observatory

For more information on the recent fire situation in South Africa see: Recent Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics.

For more general information on fires in South Africa:

See contributions in International Forest Fire News (IFFN): South Africa

See also the South Africa Photo Archive.

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin

GFMC: Forest Fires in the Russian Federation

2002
Forest Fires in the Russian Federation

16 September 2002

Avialesookhrana from the National Forest Fire Centre of Russia provides up-to-date NOAA images for the whole of the Russian Federation and neighbour territories. The Space Monitoring Information Support Laboratory provides extensive links to sites with satellite imagery for the Russian Federation, meteorological information as well as fire related images are accessible.

The NOAA AVHRR satellite image composite shows fire activities in the Russian Federation.

Latest NOAA 12&14 AVHRR composite
The red squares indicate regions of active fires. For details the GFMC readers are encouraged to use the hyperlinks provided by Avialesookhrana, the Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service of the Federal Forest service of Russia.
(Source: Avialesookhrana cloudiness maps)

Latest fire situation report by Andrey Eritsov, Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service of Russia (Avialesookhrana), 9 September 2002:

“According to the situation report of the Ministry of Natural Resources of 9 September 2002 a total of 724 fires affected 896 ha forested and 284 ha non-forested areas. In addition 133 fires were put out the same day they have started. Since the beginning of the 2002 fire season a total of 32, 011 fires affected 989,369 (corrected data) ha forested and 442,259 ha non-forested land.
Highest fire activities were in Moskovskaya oblast (232 fires, 86 ha); Leningradskaya oblast (84 fires, 136 ha); Novgorodskaya oblast (145 fires, 121 ha);

Throughout Russia a total of 6,973 people, 21 aircraft, 1,750 bulldozers, tractors and engines have been involved in fire fighting.”

For more information on the recent fire situation in Russia see: Recent Media Highlights on Fire, Policies, and Politics.

Eurasian Experimental Fire Weather Information System
The system has been developed by forest fire researchers from Canada, Russia and Germany is displayed on this website starting 18 July 2001. Complete information and a set of daily fire weather and fire behaviour potential maps covering Eurasia (the Baltic Region, Eastern Europe, countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, Mongolia) can be accessed at:
https://gfmc.online/fwf/eurasia1.htm

Example of the Eurasian Experimental Fire Weather Information System:
Latest map of the Experimental Fire Weather Index (FWI) for Russia and neighbouring countries

Daily Fire Occurrence and Fire Danger Maps of the Fire Laboratory of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk
Selected fire occurrence maps, satellite images and a forest fire danger map are prepared daily by the Russian GFMC correspondent Dr. Anatoly Sukhinin, Fire Laboratory of the Sukachev Institute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk, in collaboration with the Emergency Situation Monitoring and Forecasting Agency, Krasnoyarsk branch. The maps are produced on the base of satellite data (classification by the NOAA AVHRR). They show the fire locations (by latitude and longitude) and the area affected by fire (red signature, size in ha). The red arrow at each fire location points to the nearest populated place. The terms Oblast or Kray used in the maps are designations of administrative regions. A map showing the boundaries ofadministrative regions and a legend is included below.

Map legend

Administrative boundaries

Overview map showing large fire locations detected over the last 10 days

Overview

Latest maps maps showing fire activities (selection)

Kazhakstan – Amurkaya Oblast – Amurkaya Oblast

Chitinskaya Oblast – Irkutskaya Oblast – Khabarovsky Kray

Yakutiya – Yakutiya – Yakutiya

For more details on fire in the Russian Federation, Mongolia and China: See IFFN Country Notes. Scientific details on fire in the Russian Federation are provided by the Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN) report.

Bibliography on fire in ecosystems of boreal Eurasia:
One of the results of the first international fire science conference in the Russian Federation (1993) was the publication of a monograph on fire in boreal Eurasia, including some selected contributions on boreal North America. The literature cited in the monograph contains numerous publications which in many cases are not easily accessible. To facilitate literature search the bibliographical sources are provided by topic (chapter).
Goldammer, J.G. and V.V.Furyaev. 1996. Fire in Ecosystems of Boreal Eurasia. Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, 390 p.

24. November 2017/by GFMCadmin