Fires in Indonesia, 1997: a remote sensing perspective

This paper presents a study of the 1997 fires in Indonesia, which was undertaken during October and November 1997, partly to assess the extent and nature of fires during August and September, and partly to undertake real-time monitoring of the fires. Data, mainly in the form of satellite imagery and image products, was obtained from local receiving stations and through the Internet, The distribution of fires in time and space has been assessed, mainly using indicative "hotspots" from NOAA AVHRR and ERS-2 ATSR imagery. A rough assessment of areas burnt in southern Sumatera up to the end of September 1997 has been undertaken using SPOT digital quicklook imagery, and vegetation classes burnt assessed by interpretation of preburn satellite imagery, where available. Major fires started in southern Sumatera and southern Kalimantan in early August 1997 and continued to burn until the second week of November, when they appear to have been extinguished by the arrival of substantial rain. Fires have also burnt for much of this period in southeastern Irian Jaya, The total area burnt in Sumatera Selatan and Lampung provinces of southern Sumatera alone is estimated to be about 1 mill. ha, and the total in all of Indonesia is in excess of 2 mill. ha. Most of this area was not forest, but scrub, grassland and agricultural lands. The most persistent fires, and the source of probably 90% of the smoke haze which blanketed parts of Indonesia and surrounding countries, were 7 clusters of fires along the edges of degraded peat-swamp forests in southern Sumatera and Kalimantan. Almost no fires occurred deep within undisturbed primary forest, and most were associated with land-clearing for new settlements or plantations, or with logging operations.