GFMC: Forest Fires in the Russian Federation
Forest Fires in the Russian Federation
18 May 2009
Fires Across West Siberian Plain
South of the Irtysh River, at the southern end of the West Siberian Plain, numerous fires (red outlines) were burning when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASAs Aqua satellite captured this photo-like image on 15 May 2009. The area is a major wheat-growing area in Russia, and most of the fires have probably been set by people for clearing farmland or pasture. (Such fires do sometimes get out of control and burn into surrounding natural areas.) The burned ground appears deep brown.
AQUA
15 May 2009
The large image provided above is at MODIS maximum spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel.
(source: earth observatory)
GFMC analysis: According to the latest satellite-derived analysis provided by the Sukachev Institute for Forest (Krasnoyarsk) the total area burned by 15 May in the Russian Federation is 10 613 954 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.
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 (18 May 9:00 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)
According to the wildfire situation report of 17 May 2009 a total of 105 fires affected 11,638 ha forested and 6,521 ha non-forested lands, 35 fires of them were reported as new fires. Through all of Russia 3,070 people, 18 aircraft, 615 bulldozers, tractors and engines have been involved in fire fighting. Since the beginning of the 2009 fire season a total of 12,015 fires affected 438,520 ha forested and 226,909 ha non-forested lands of the Forest Fund of Russia .
Most fires have been reported in the following regions:
- Repablic Buryatia 21;
- Repablic Khakassia 14;
- Khabarovsk region 18.
There are large fires in following regions:
- Repablic Buryatia – 11 fires,burning area 1,896 ha;
- Khabarovsk region 8 fires,burning area 4,255 ha and 4,320 ha non-forested lands.
Source: Aerial Forest Fire Center of Russia (Avialesookhrana), prepared for GFMC by Eduard Davidenko and Sadovskaya Raisa
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 15 May 2009 (selection):
Altayskiy kray Khabarovskiy kray Yevreyskaya obl.
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.
