Satellite Images of the Recent Fires in Indonesia

Below are a time series of SPOT satellite images showing the spreading of fires in Indonesia. Click here for an area of study map. Recent news articles from Reuters News Service are available here. The Images and captions below are adapted from the Remote Sensing of Forest Fires, and the Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing, and Processing (CRISP), Singapore.

6 June, 1997

The Barito River cuts through the image from north to south. West of the river, irrigation channels show up as a grid of green lines, enclosing a large plantation. Areas which are covered with healthy vegetation show up in red or pink, while bare soil or sparsely vegetated areas show up in various shades of green. The white patches are cumulus clouds, each casting a shadow below it.

29 July, 1997

Many smoke plumes rise from burning vegetation in the plantation area. A few smoke plumes can also be seen to the east of the river. Large extent of the red/pink areas in the previous image have turned dark green, the result of burning in the nearly two month period.

7 August, 1997

Burning continues and the area west of Barito River is now shrouded in smoke haze.

28 August, 1997

The whole area is now obscured by dense smoke haze. Through the thick haze, we can see that nearly all the vegetation in the plantation and near the river has been burnt.

8 September, 1997

The smoke haze has lifted on this day, offering a temporary reprieve and revealing the extent of damage done. Systematic land-clearing by fire is however still in progress.