Fires on Borneo
Fires on Borneo
14October 2006
Current media information:
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ASEAN: War on haze lacks bite (published by thestar.com.my, 14 October 2006)
Latest satelliete image:
Thick smoke buried the island of Borneo on 12 October 2006. This image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Terra satellite shows a cloud of smoke pooled over the heart of theisland. Along the southern part of the island, scores of active fires (locations that MODIS detected marked in red) billowed gray-brown smoke. As the smoke spread north and mingled with clouds(white), it became a diffuse, gray haze.
TERRA
12 October 2006
The fires had been burning for several weeks, creating transportation and health problems across the region. Fires are common in the dry season, despite the Indonesian governments efforts to control illegal burning. Brush fires on agricultural land spread into forests and peat swamp areas, which produce huge amounts of smoke when they burn. Some fires may also due to slash-and-burn deforestation, a cheap method of clearing the rainforest for farming or tree plantations.
The fires burning in the region may also affect smog and haze conditions as far as the Korean Peninsula.
(source: EarthObservatory).
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