Fires in Indonesia

2009

Fires in Indonesia

4 February 2009

I. Monitoring ofSmoke-Haze and Active Fires (land-use fires and wildfires)

Regional Smoke-Haze Monitoring

The Meteorological Division of the Singapore National Environment Agency provides a daily updated map showing active fires (land-use fires, wildfires), smoke haze and surface wind directions within the South East Asian region.

Latest map of surface winds and smoke haze/hot spots observed over cloud-free areas.
(Source: http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/article.asp?pid=1195)

Latest regional active fire (hotspot) maps:
http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/article.asp?pid=1674
Forecast of winds and surface pressure for the South East Asian Region :
http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/article.asp?pid=1122
http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/article.asp?pid=1122
Other Regional NOAA and GOES Satellite Images: http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/category_sub.asp?cid=59
http://app.nea.gov.sg/cms/htdocs/category_sub.asp?cid=59
Update (current) and last month Pollutant Standards Index (PSI) in Singapore: http://app.nea.gov.sg/psi/
http://app.nea.gov.sg/psi/

Fire Activity Monitoring in Borneo (Kalimantan, Sabah, Sarawak)

The East Kalimantan Fire Management Agency (predecessor arrangement: Indonesian-German Integrated Forest Fire Management Project – IFFM) in Samarinda provides regulary updated maps generated by NOAA-AVHRR showing active land-use fires and wildfires in Brunei and the Indonesian and Malaysian provinces on Borneo Island:

Latest fire overview map for Borneo: 12 August 2008
(Source: PKHL Fire Maps)

Fire Activity Monitoring in South Sumatra

The South Sumatra Forest Fire Management Project (SSFFMP) provides regular fire activity maps based on the products of the MODIS Rapid Response System.

Archive with Satellite-derived Fire Activity Maps of Indonesia

The JICA-supported Forest Fire Prevention Management Project 2 (FFPMP2) provides an archive of fire activity maps based on NOAA AVHRR data (July 1997-May 2007)

http://ewds-ffpmp2.hp.infoseek.co.jp/ewds/menu/jp3.htm

II. Fire Weather and Fire Danger Monitoring and Early Warning

Regional Fire Weather

The Regional South East Asia Fire Danger Rating System (SEA FDRS) is a joint effort between the Canadian Forest Service (CFS) and the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MMD), supported by the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA). Daily updated SEA Fire Danger Rating can be downloaded on the following website of MMD.

Latest example of a SEA FDRS product:
The Fire Weather Index (FWI) values shown on the map are numerical ratings of fire intensity.
Information from the Initial Spread Index (ISI) and Build Up Index (BUI) is combined to provide a numerical rating of fire intensity.
This index is used to indicate the difficulty of fire control based on the head fire intensity and fire fighting capability.

Information on the Indonesian Fire Danger Rating System (Indonesian FDRS) is provided by the Indonesian Bureau of Meteorology and Geophysics (BMG) in Jakarta. The site provides information for fire managers working to prevent and control vegetation fires and smoke in Indonesia. This link points to the English version; a Bahasa Indonesian version can be found there as well: http://meteo.bmg.go.id/fdrs/index_e.html.

WWF Fire Bulletin for South East Asia

Entering 2009, Indonesia experienced numerous land and forest fires in the Riau Province. It is indeed a bad phenomenon because the fires occurred so early and large parts of Indonesia have come in to rain season. Is it a new phenomenon, in which fire season begins to shift?

The number of hotspots was reduced by 79.2% in 2008 compared to hotspot data in 2006 as a baseline.

The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) has resumed the periodic publication of the Fire Bulletin a weekly information on fire, haze, and related issues in Indonesia.

III. Further information: