Fires Around The World

1. Fires Around The World Project 4 – Completed by Chad Brenco, John Hunt, Gerald Page & Joey Vetere

2. Fires around the World

3. About This Imagery & Data… • The ATSR night time data used contains 4 bands: 1.6, 3.7, 11.0, 12.0 micrometers.The ATSR instrument has a 1km resolution. • 2 straightforward algorithms have been tested in this project; the one that is used is Algorithm 1: Hot spot if: 3.7 micrometers > 312 Kelvins (or 102 degrees Fahrenheit (Saturation). • The detection capabilities depend on the fire temperature, and can be estimated as follows: 0.1 ha at 600K to 0.01 ha at 800K, for a background temperature of 300K. • The user of the Fire product must take into account the algorithm limitations due to cloud presence, atmospheric effects, bi-directionality of emissivity. Fire temperature and extension are not taken into account in the processing.

4. Advantages: • Nevertheless the advantages of ATSR are the following: • Due to Night Time detection, no artefact due to solar reflection. • No false alarm (no commission error) with algorithm 1: data reliability. • Only quasi-nadir viewing pixels are analyzed: less pixel size and bidirectional problems expected. • No drift of the ERS orbit allows year to year comparison. • High radiometric sensitivity allows detection of little/not extended fires.

5. Known Issues: • ATSR frames overlap (some fires can be detected twice). • Warm surfaces detection (with algorithm #2 – NOT APPLICABLE HERE). • Global underestimation of the hot spot number (only night time fires detected). • Source of Information: • : http://dup.esrin.esa.int/ionia/wfa/2006-ESA01-index.asp - the European Space Agency

6. Rainforest Burning • What is happening in Brazil and throughout the Northern region of South America? It appears to be the leading region in hotspots • This is largely due to massive rainforest degradation • We picked to study fire hotspots mainly to analyze environmental deterioration • It affects us all in a multitude of ways

7. Burning Rainforests in South America • Rainforests are the “Incubators of Life” (National Geographic) • “Nearly every inch of rain forests are covered with plants, and those plants sustain millions of animal species. Every year large portions of the Earth’s rain forests are cut down for logging, mining, and cattle ranches.”

8. South American Rainforest Facts • Once covered 14% of surface, now only 6% • The Amazon Rainforest covers a billion acres in Brazil, Venezuela, Columbia and other regions east of the Andes; along the Equator • Lungs of our Planet – Plays a key recycling role in the Carbon Cycle; Carbon + Rainforest = Oxygen! • Home to more than 10 million species (animals, trees, etc.) • Multitude of recourses: pharmaceuticals (cancer & AIDS drugs, global sustainability, rich Indigenous history) • 1/5th of our fresh water contained in Amazon Basin • Cleared land is used for timber and cattle grazing • Source: http://www.rain-tree.com/facts.htm

9. Grey Streaks show multitude of fires bringing in South America

10. Land Use Change This satellite imagery taken over the same are over different time periods shows the advancing wave of deforestation. • Lots are sold to commercial ventures along perpendicular access roads Transamazonian road

11. Amazon Basin Covered in Smoke

12. Mapping Africa’s Fires

13. People in Africa have been using fire to manage agricultural lands for centuries. Such large-scale burning can have a strong impact on weather, climate, human health, and natural resources. These fires do not pose immediate threats lives. Since the 1950s, governments have promoted the regulated use of fire as an important tool for livestock management and agriculture. Most countries have laws regarding burning, which are enforced to varying degrees.

14. Africa Fire Data in Google Earth Africa Fire Data in Google Earth • The burning area shifts from north to south over the course of the year. • This shift is brought about by the coming and going of Africa's rainy and dry seasons.

15. Agricultural Fires • Both seasonally and annually, people set fire to African landscapes to create and maintain farmland and grazing areas. • People use fire to keep damaging or invasive plants from invading crop or rangeland, to drive grazing animals away from areas more desirable for farming, to return nutrients to the soil, and to convert natural ecosystems to agricultural land. Image from NASA's Earth Observatory September 6, 2005

16. Northern Africa Fire Season • The image shows northern Africa south of the Sahara Desert. The agricultural fire season was clearly underway. • Places where MODIS detected actively burning fires are marked with red dots. • Hundreds of fires are scattered across Nigeria, Cameroon, and the Central African Republic. This image was captured by MODIS on December 4, 2006.

17. Northern Africa Fire Season • About 90 percent of fires in Africa are human-caused. • People who raise livestock set fires during the dry seasons to remove dead vegetation that accumulates after harvesting. • The fires promote new, high-quality growth for the livestock. This image was captured by MODIS on December 4, 2006.

18. Northern Africa Fire Season • Deep green vegetation overtakes the bottom of the image where the large Sudd Wetlands and other smaller marshy areas have enough precipitation to thrive in the region’s tropical savannas. • Farther north, the vegetation of the savanna becomes sparse and transitions into shrub and grassland. This region, known as the Sahel, is an intermediate zone between the wetter savannas and the dry Sahara Desert to the north. • Agricultural fires are widespread in the region each year at this time. This image was captured by MODIS on November 27, 2006.

19. Lightning is the second major source of fire on the African continent. Africa is highly prone to lightning storms, which generally occur during the wet seasons. In the early part of the wet seasons, when the fuel is still dry enough to ignite and sustain burning, the climate is apt for lightning induced fires. Fire by Lightning

20. Fire ecologists have dubbed Africa a "continent of fire" because of its widespread annual patterns of burning. In the southern, western, and eastern regions of Africa, the trees and grass of the savannah biome become extremely flammable during the dry season, which lasts from May to October in southern Africa and January to April in west and east Africa. “Continent of Fire”

21. Seasonal Fires • These maps illustrate summer (January) and winter (July) fire distributions in South Africa. • In the summer, the most serious fires tend to be concentrated in the southwest. More fires occur during the winter, when the eastern grasslands are warm and dry.

22. Power Problems with Fires • South Africa’s power company is responsible for maintaining power flow through the country’s massive Texas sized power grid. One of the top causes of outages is fire. • Power stations are typically in the northeastern part of the country where fires are frequent. However, about a thousand miles away, Cape Town and other major port cities require power. • In between the city of Cape Town and the power stations are approximately 28,000 kilometers of high-voltage power transmission lines. • When fire burns anywhere under these lines, the power can interact with the ground like lightning. This cuts off the flow of electricity and triggers a power outage.

23. Carbon Monoxide Map of Africa • Thousands of agricultural fires burn thousands of acres and strongly influence air quality. • This map shows the carbon monoxide concentrations over Africa between August 25 and September 1, 2006. The image was made using data from instruments on NASA’s Terra satellite.

24. A Necessary Disturbance • Fire is an integral component of the African ecosystem that scientists believe has an extensive and important evolutionary history on the continent. • Many African plant species and animals, for example, have growth and reproduction cycles so linked to Africa's fire seasons that they would likely become locally extinct without fire.

25. Fire’s in Australia and the U.S.

26. 2006 in Australia • The majority of Australia is a desert • It tends to have a sufficient amount of land that is arid and dry year round. • This lack of moisture leads to fires yearly but in 2006 it was a more active fire season then normal

27. Causes of 2006 Fires • Drought • The best indicator for fire conditions. • Winds • The winds assisted in the spreading of fires helping them move quicker and finding more fuel • Heat • Abnormally hotter temperatures recorded across the country • Humans • Arson • Controlled burning

28. Significance of Fires • Due to the vast amounts of land burnt, number of separate fires and the length of the season itself, Victoriaexperienced the longest continuously burning bushfire complex in Australia's history. With fires in the Victorian Alps and Gippsland burning over 1.1 million hectares of land over the course of 69 days.

29. 2006 in the U.S. • The 2006 fire season in the U.S. was disastrous. • Main causes were due to an extensive drought season. • Along with controlled burns (24,429 fires set burning 2,720,545 acres)

30. 2006 Drought • Causes • Slow hurricane season • Only 10 stormes • 2 major hurricanes • Leaving many places in the south very dry.

31. Human-Induced Fires Additional Causes Lightning-induced Fires Drought conditions led to Fires by lightning 16,165 5,468,901 acres destroyed • Drought conditions led to • Fires by humans 80,220 • 4,404,844 acres destroyed • Includes both controlled fires and arson.

32. Damages • Over 96,000 reported fires • Over 9.8 million acres burned • Killed over 50 people • And caused over $350 million in damages • http://www.usfa.dhs.gov/statistics/national/outside.shtm • http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/research/2006/fire06.html#feb

33. Fires In Sumatra, Indonesia

34. Where and What Part of Indonesia Sources: canada.com, Ecology and Society Indonesia is an archipelago of islands north of Australia and south of Malaysia and Thailand bordered to the west by the Indian Ocean. Sumatra is one of the most densely populated and fertile islands in Indonesia, and is also where fire is used to clear land for plantation purposes.

35. Where in Indonesia? Source: Ecology and Society The region that was used for the study is Petapahan which is about 25 km west of Bangkinang City. Locals have used this area to cultivate rubber trees and rice (along the Tapung Kiri River). Since the 1970s however, logging companies have moved in and logged an area of at least 350,000 ha.

36. Land Use Change in Petapahan Source: Ecology and Society Between the 8 year period between 1992 and 2000, 92% of high density tall forests and 33% of low density forests were lost. 29% of the high density forests and 35% of the low density forests were converted to oil palm plantations. Also, 20% of the total forest was converted to tree plantations.

37. What kind of plantations? Source: Transport Information Service Palm Oil Plantations: Harvested by large plantation companies. The fruit of the Oil Palm is pressed to get the oil which is then used for the creation of margarines, soaps, candles, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic purposes. Timber Plantations: Planted over cleared forests to supply wood fiber to pulp mills. They have the capacity to use over 25 million m3 of wood fiber per year. They are harvested by large tree plantation companies.

38. And Where Does Fire Come In? Table Compares the Cost of using fire vs. mechanical techniques for oil plantations. Table can be found at http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol9/iss1/art15/table3.html Source: Society and Ecology Most of the fires that occurred in the Petapahan region were deliberately started to clear the land so that timber and oil palm plantations could be created. Using fire techniques is more cost-effective compared to using mechanical techniques.

39. Fires Continued… • Local communities use fires for land preparation particularly for oil palm cultivation. 72% of farmers surveyed say they use fire because it is the cheapest and easiest way to prepare land. Another 12% use fire as a means of improving soil fertility • Additional reasons for fire occurrences that are not a result from land cultivation are local communities deliberately setting fire to local forests to express frustrations over the establishment of plantations, which took land from local communities by force and with no compensation. Source: Ecology and Society