Fires in Mongolia
Fires inMongolia
5May 2006
GFMC analysis: According to the latest satellite-derived analysis provided by the Sukachev Institute for Forest (Krasnoyarsk) the total area burned by 4 May in Mongolia is 234 539 hectares (ha).
Mongolian forests are characterized by discontinuous but pronounced fire seasons with a long spring fire period and a short autumn fire period. In summer, fire occurence is very rare because of frequent and abundant precipitation. Steppe fires are considered to be primarily responsible for fires in forest-steppe ecotone and in the subtaiga, since they spread into forest stands under favourable conditions. In the belt of the mountain taiga, particularly in its upper zone, most fires are started by lightning. Therefore, the forest danger in the northern region of the country is a natural phenomenon with a repeating character that is linked to the droughts of spring and autumn. Yet, fire occurrence in the forest regions of Northern Mongolia is resulting more and more from inappropriate human activities and has increased from year to year. Currently they contribute to 95 percent of all fires occurring annually in the region. Besides of that, warming of climate, the trend of desertification and droughts are natural conditions that favour the spread of fires and blowups.
Large fires were detected by the Information and Computer Center (ICC) on 23 April 2006 on the base of satellite data (classification by the NOAA AVHRR). The following images show a time series of the developing fires burning in the foothills of the mountains that separate Russia (north) from Mongolia (south).
2 May 2006 3 May 2006 4 May 2006
(source: Information and Computer Center)
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Terra satellite captured this image of the fires. This is a false-color image, and unburned vegetation appears bright green, clouds appear light blue. The actively burning portions of the fires are outlined in red and their accompanying large burn scars appear magenta, spread across the landscape. At upper left, Lake Baikal is still ice covered and snow covers mountain peaks despite the arrival of spring more than a month before.
TERRA
4 May 2006
3:30 hrs UTC
(source: EarthObservatory)
The high-resolution image provided above has a spatialresolution of 500 meters per pixel.
Fire Occurrence Map of the Fire Laboratory of theSukachev Institute of Forest, Krasnoyarsk
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