. 24/7 Space News .
EARTH OBSERVATION
Researchers show satellite data can reveal fire susceptibility in peatlands
by Staff Writers
Stanford CA (SPX) Sep 10, 2019

illustration only

When large areas of carbon-rich soil catch fire, the blaze emits massive amounts of carbon into the atmosphere and creates a thick haze some residents of Southeast Asia know all too well. In 2015, the haze from peatland fires was fatal, responsible for more than 100,000 premature deaths in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

Because of how they accumulate organic material for long periods of time, undisturbed peatlands are considered one of the most effective natural ecosystems for carbon storage. So large fires come at a huge cost to human health and sustainability.

"Although they only cover 3 percent of the world's land area, peatlands are estimated to contain 21 percent of the world's soil carbon," said Stanford University doctoral candidate Nathan Dadap, lead author on a new study correlating soil moisture with fire vulnerability in peatlands.

In order to understand fire susceptibility in Asian peatlands, where blazes have increased in scale and severity over the past 30 years due to land-use changes, scientists developed a novel approach to measuring soil moisture using a previously underestimated tool: satellite data.

Since tropical peatlands are found in swamps where the ground can be obscured by dense vegetation, it was thought impossible to use satellite data for monitoring soil moisture. By developing an alternative algorithm, Stanford scientists have shown for the first time that analyzing remote sensing data can reveal soil moisture in this region, which can in turn be used to predict fire risk. The research appeared in Environmental Research Letters Sept. 9.

"This clearly shows the potential to lead to improved fire predictions," said co-author Alexandra Konings, an assistant professor of Earth system science in Stanford's School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences (Stanford Earth). "More research is needed, but it opens the door to a new way of figuring out long-term policies for managing peatland fire risk."

Researchers analyzed data from the NASA Soil Moisture Active Passive (SMAP) mission during the 2015 El Nino and found that the replacement of tropical forests with palm oil and acacia plantations allowed for measurement of the soil moisture in this region. The analyses show that drier soil up to 30 days before a fire correlated with a larger burned area. While rainfall is currently used as an indicator for fire risk in the region, soil moisture is the most direct way of assessing that risk.

"The problem with using precipitation as an indicator is that it doesn't take into account the local conditions," Dadap said. "If one area has drainage canals and another does not, but you still have the same amount of precipitation, the one with canals still is going to have a much higher risk of fires. That's why we think that inclusion of soil moisture can be an important metric for capturing conditions on the ground."

Carbon sink or fossil fuel?
When fires start in peatlands and the soils are dry enough, blazes there can quickly become out of control, causing haze downwind in the densely populated cities of Jakarta and Singapore and ushering in long-term climate impacts that affect the whole planet.

"In the 2015 peat fires, nearly the same amount of carbon dioxide was released as India's total annual carbon emissions from fossil fuels," Dadap said.

Nearly 95 percent of the peatlands in this region of Sumatra, peninsular Malaysia and Borneo have been degraded - a factor that increases susceptibility to widespread fires - yet those land-use changes also enabled the researchers to use satellite data to measure its soil moisture. Their new approaches for interpreting the satellite data might also work in other peatlands where the land cover allows for accurate soil moisture measurement, Dadap said.

While policymakers have expressed some interest in implementing water table-based management policies in the area, measurements for creating such guidelines would need to happen on the ground - a process that would be extremely labor-intensive for such a large region and infeasible in some areas, according to Konings. The approach used in this study shows the value of using satellite data for a more detailed understanding of peatland hydrology.

"This shows that the consideration of hydrologic factors beyond just the commonly cited water table in this region - factors like soil moisture or canals that might be easier to map than a water table - could be relevant for avoiding fire outcomes," Konings said.

Laboratory links
While exploring the relationship between fire susceptibility and soil moisture in peatlands, Dadap turned to lab-based research for supporting evidence. The satellite data analysis showed that burned areas were much larger when soils were below a certain soil moisture value. A laboratory study from the 1990s similarly showed that ignition of peat samples was much more likely below the same value.

"That was probably the most shocking finding, since we were measuring soil moisture from the satellite - it was a totally different method than this laboratory ignition study," Dadap said. "It was a pleasant surprise to have an independent comparison that seems to match up really well."

Research paper


Related Links
Stanford's School of Earth, Energy and Environmental Sciences
Earth Observation News - Suppiliers, Technology and Application


Thanks for being there;
We need your help. The SpaceDaily news network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain.

With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords.

Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year.

If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceDaily Monthly Supporter
$5+ Billed Monthly


paypal only
SpaceDaily Contributor
$5 Billed Once


credit card or paypal


EARTH OBSERVATION
NASA's ECOSTRESS Detects Amazon Fires from Space
Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 29, 2019
NASA's Ecosystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station (ECOSTRESS) captured imagery of fires in the Amazon regions of Brazil and Bolivia on Aug. 23, 2019. The red areas in the images - in eastern Bolivia and northern Brazil - are where surface temperatures exceeded the maximum measurable temperature of the instrument's sensor (approximately 220 degrees Fahrenheit, or 104 degrees Celsius), highlighting the burning areas along the fire fronts. The dark, wispy areas indicate thick ... read more

Comment using your Disqus, Facebook, Google or Twitter login.



Share this article via these popular social media networks
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit GoogleGoogle

EARTH OBSERVATION
UAE Wants to Train More Astronauts for Arab World - Emirati Official

Taking the next giant leaps

Malaysia Interested in Having Access to Russian Space Tech, Prime Minister Says

Voice-command ovens, robots for pets on show at Berlin's IFA tech fair

EARTH OBSERVATION
Putin reveals he offered to sell Trump Russia's hypersonic missiles

Russia Launches Rokot Space Rocket to Orbit Military Satellite

Russian Space Agency to Test Modernized Fregat Upper Stage During Launch of Meteor Satellite in 2020

Trump says US 'not involved' in Iranian rocket failure

EARTH OBSERVATION
'Martian CSI' Sheds Light on How Asteroid Impacts Generated Running Water Under Red Planet

NASA Research Gives New Insight into How Much Atmosphere Mars Lost

NASA engineers attach Mars Helicopter to Mars 2020 rover

ESA Chief says discussed ExoMars 2020 launch with Roscosmos

EARTH OBSERVATION
China's KZ-1A rocket launches two satellites

China's newly launched communication satellite suffers abnormality

China launches first private rocket capable of carrying satellites

Chinese scientists say goodbye to Tiangong-2

EARTH OBSERVATION
Private Chinese firms tapping international space market

Iridium and Thales Expand Partnership to Deliver Aircraft Connectivity Services

ESA re-routes satellite to avoid SpaceX collision risk

Cutting-edge Chinese satellite malfunctions after launch

EARTH OBSERVATION
Shaken but not stirred: Konnect satellite completes vibration tests

Seeking moments of disorder

Defrosting surfaces in seconds

China's Tianhe-2 Supercomputer to Crunch Space Data From New Radio Telescope

EARTH OBSERVATION
Planetary collisions can drop the internal pressures in planets

How to Spin a Disk Around Young Protostars

Potassium Detected in an Exoplanet Atmosphere

Deep-sea sediments reveal solar system chaos: An advance in dating geologic archives

EARTH OBSERVATION
Storms on Jupiter are disturbing the planet's colorful belts

ALMA shows what's inside Jupiter's storms

Young Jupiter was smacked head-on by massive newborn planet

Mission to Jupiter's icy moon confirmed









The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us.