GFMC: Forest Fires in the Russian Federation
Forest Fires in the Russian Federation
21 July 2006
GFMC analysis: According to the latest satellite-derived analysis provided by the Sukachev Institute for Forest (Krasnoyarsk) the total area burned by 20 July in the Russian Federation is 12 731 466 hectares (ha).
Note: The area burned includes all vegetation types (forest and non-forested land on the whole territory of the Russian Federation). For current fire statistics on forest lands of the Federal Russian Forest Fund compiled by Avialesookhrana see report below.
Dozens of forest fires were burning across the Central Siberian Plateau in Russia on July 20, 2006. When the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Terra satellite passed overhead, the sensor detected fires (marked in red) across a broad region. Thick smoke streams westward from the blazes and eventually wraps around to the south, blanketing the city of Bratsk, which sits beside the Angara River northwest of Lake Baikal.
The boreal forests of North America and Eurasia are prone to fires in the summer. Fires are triggered naturally by the lightning that accompanies summer storms and either accidentally or carelessly by people.
Source: http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov
Fire danger map for 20 July 2006 for Eastern Siberia:
Source: Sukachev Institute for Forest, Krasnoyarsk
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 (21 July 04:00 GMT) NOAA 12&14 AVHRR composite
The red squares indicate regions of active fires (MODIS Detection). 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)
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
Fire situation report of the Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service of Russia (Avialesookhrana), 19 July 2006
According to the wildfire situation report of 19 July 2006 of the Federal Forest Agency of Russia a total of 298 fires affected 3,350 ha forested lands and 265 non forested lands, 70 fires of them were reported as new fires. In addition 100 fires occurred that were put out the same day they have started.
Since the beginning of the 2006 fire season a total of 19,587 fires affected 604,636 ha forested and 566,629 ha non-forested lands of the Federal Forest Agency. (For comparison: Last year up to this date 7,720 fires have burnt 161,400 ha forested and 49,059 ha non-forested lands.)
Most fires have been reported in the following regions:
- Kareliya 19
- Komi – 18
- Leningradskaya – 71
- Irkutsk 23
- Krasnojarsk – 65
There are large fires in following regions:
- Irkutsk – 4 fires, burning area 590 ha;
- Krasnojarsk – 13 fires, burning area 15,710 ha;
Through all of Russia 3,410 people, 52 aircraft, 640 bulldozers, tractors and engines have been involved in fire fighting.
Source: Aerial Forest Fire Protection Service of Russia (Avialesookhrana), prepared for GFMC by Nastya Svideteleva
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 of administrative 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 of 20 July 2006 (selection):
Evenkiyskiy a.o. Irkutskaya obl. Respublika Sakha (Yakutiya)
Krasnoyarskiy kray Krasnoyarskiy kray Krasnoyarskiy kray
More maps of other regions are available on request: info@gfmc.org
For more details on fire in the Russian Federation:
- IFFN Russian Federation Special Issue (IFFN 32)
- Russia 2002 fire report
- IFFN Russian Federation 2002 Fire Special (IFFN 28)
- IFFN Reports from Russia
- Fire Research Campaign Asia-North (FIRESCAN)
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.
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