Abstract

During the 1997 El Nino event, it was estimated that between 0.8-2.6 gigatonnes of carbon were released into the atmosphere as a result of forest and peat soil fires that raged in Borneo. This is the equivalent of 13-40% of the total annual anthropogenic emissions. Latest observations find that Borneo is still burning and peat fires still causing problems.

The aim of this proposal is to develop methods of mapping and monitoring of vegetation burning activity and associated peat soil fires in Central Kalimantan in Indonesia. This investigation will be undertaken using data from the UK-owned DMC satellite providing wide-swath coverage of the study area with a repeat-pass of every 4-5 days throughout the burning season.