Antara 7 Aug 19;
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Australian monsoon can make parts of Southeast Asia prone to fires in the next week, according to the Fire Danger Rating System (FDRS) early warning system.
The land fire potential was detected in Indonesia, Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia, and some small parts of Myanmar, Vietnam, and Laos on Aug 6-8, it stated.
"Currently, most parts of Indonesia and some other countries in the ASEAN have experienced the Australian monsoon, characterized by dry winds that blow from the southeast," Deputy for Meteorology of the Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) Mulyono R. Prabowo stated here on Wednesday.
The weather is also affected by the anomaly of sea surface temperature in the Indonesian waters, especially on the south side of the equator; weak intensity of the El Nino phenomenon that hit the region since the end of 2018; and the Indian Ocean Dipole Mode.
This has triggered a drier season in 2019 than that in 2018, he stated.
"The dry condition was followed by the emergence of hotspots that can be indicative of land and forest fires. It will produce haze and deteriorate the air quality. Hence, we need to increase awareness and prepare measures to minimize the impact," he elaborated.
FDRS is a system that monitors the risk of forest and vegetation fires and supplies information that assists in fire management.
The products of FDRS can be used to forecast fire behavior and can serve as a guide for policymakers in developing actions to protect life, property, and the environment.
The FDRS for Southeast Asia was developed based on the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System.
The meteorological variables used that include temperature, relative humidity, rainfall, and wind speed, are those measured at meteorological stations across the Southeast Asian region that are made available on the Global Telecommunication System. Spatial Analysis is conducted using the ArcView software.
The FDRS for Southeast Asia is managed by the Malaysian Meteorological Department (MetMalaysia). Related news: Jokowi chairs meeting to tackle forest fires
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Reporter: Desi Purnamawati, Sri Haryati
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
BMKG identifies 18,895 hotspots in Southeast Asia, Papua New Guinea
Antara 7 Aug 19;
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysics Agency (BMKG) identified at least 18,895 hotspots in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea in the past two weeks and warned people of the possibility of forest and land fires.
"The increasing number of hotspots was due to the current atmospheric conditions and relatively hot and dry weather that tends to scorch plants more easily," BMKG's Deputy of Meteorology Mulyono R. Prabowo stated here on Wednesday.
Information on the number of hotspots was obtained from the Terra Aqua Satellite (LAPAN) and Himawari Satellite (Japan JMA) imagery that was then analyzed by BMKG.
Based on the monitoring conducted by BMKG, the number of hotspots in some Southeast Asian regions has increased, from 1,395 as monitored on July 25, 2019, to 2,441 hotspots on July 28, 2019.
Furthermore, the hotspots began to reduce to 1,782 on July 29, 2019, and then to 703 hotspots on August 1, 2019.
The number of hotspots increased again to 3,191 on August 4, 2019, concentrated in the Indonesian provinces of Riau, Central Kalimantan, and West Kalimantan. The hotspots were also detected in some other ASEAN countries of Malaysia (in Sarawak), Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Myanmar, and the Philippines.
The BMKG has continued to coordinate with the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, National Disaster Mitigation Agency (BNPB), some local Disaster Mitigation Agencies (BPBD), other related agencies, and the community to step up preparedness and vigil in facing potential land and forest fires, dangers of air and smoke pollution, and drought that can cause paucity of clean water.
Reporter: Yuni Arisandy Sinaga
Editor: Suharto
