We surveyed photographs taken by cosmonauts and astronauts since 1992, including photographs taken from the Mir space station and Space Shuttle during the Shuttle-Mir program (March 1996 to June 1998), in order to determine the contribution of high-latitude long-duration space missions toward understanding the global distributions of biomass burning. The Shuttle-Mir photographs and associated data provided spatial and temporal information on biomass burning for comparison with previous assessments of this environmental phenomenon. Because of the high orbital inclination of Space Shuttle and Mir flight paths, and the more continuous temporal coverage possible from Mir, better data on biomass burning were obtained for high latitudes and other parts of the world that had not been well covered in previous studies. Conclusions broadly support earlier views of seasonality and dominant controls. Photos of major fires in Russia-Mongolia, Southeast Asia, Mexico-Central America, and south-central Africa during the period of the Shuttle-Mir program give a visual impression of the great extent of certain smoke palls. In Southeast Asia and Mexico, the quantity of smoke was related to the extreme El Niņo of 1997-1998. Spacecraft in low Earth orbit provide an intermediate platform for biomass-burning observations between ground observations / aircraft views and satellite images.
Wilkinson, M.J., K. P. Lulla, and M. Glasser, 2000. Biomass burning and smoke palls with observations from Space Shuttle and Shuttle-Mir missions, in Dynamic Earth Environments: Remote Sensing Observations from Shuttle-Mir Missions (K. P. Lulla and L. V. Dessinov, eds.), John Wiley & Sons, New York, pp. 99-119, 265-266, 278-279.
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Figure 7.1
Worldwide distribution of photographs of biomass burning. Top: distribution as of May, 1992. (Reconstructed from original data following Andreae, 1993; used with permission of the author and Eos, Transactions of the American Geophysical Union.) Bottom: geographic distribution of biomass burning photographs collected between 1992-1998. Approximate continent boundaries are provided for reference. The circled data are discussed in text. |
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Figure 7.2
Global biomass burning photographs plotted by date and latitude. Top: seasonality in biomass burning is evident in many parts of the world as identified by Andreae (1993), as of May, 1992. (Reconstructed from original data following Andreae, 1993.) Bottom: data for biomass burning photographs collected between 1992-1998. Shaded swath marked by fewer data points in the equatorial zone is discussed in the text. The swath moves across the equatorial zone in step with the seasonal shift of the ITC. The circled data points are also discussed in text. |
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Figure 7.3
Biomass-burning photographs plotted by date, latitude, and hemisphere. All data from Figure 7.2 (1965-1998) were combined for this analysis, then separated by hemisphere to facilitate geographic interpretation. The regions marked A, B, and C are discussed in the text. |
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Figure 7.4
Fires in Mongolia, 1996. (A) On May 2, 1996, dense smoke rises from several large fires that raged out of control for more than three weeks. A dying fire and associated black fire scar appear at the top right of the view (NASA photograph NM21-735-62). (B) Scattered fires appear in this east-looking view of the mountainous and forested landscape on the border between western Mongolia and the Russian Federation, May 11, 1996. A small sector of Lake Baikal appears on the left edge of the view (NASA photograph NM21-743-56). Two centers of biomass burning, one near the west end of Lake Baikal (lower left) and one south of the lake (center) appear as diffuse gray masses (the distance from the lake to the lower-left fires is about 150 km). Smoke appears less brilliant than the lines of cloud which dominate the top and lower right parts of the view. Westerly winds carry smoke from fires burning on higher forested ground (green). Lower-lying country is a semiarid steppe and appears as a gray-brown. |
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Figure 7.5
(A) Fires on the Russian and Mongolian border, May 1, 1997. This oblique, west-looking view of the forested mountain ranges in northern Mongolia and southern Russia (NASA photograph NM23-756-448) shows the same forested regions as in Figure 7.4. Lake Baikal appears at the top of the view still covered with areas of winter ice. Multiple, discrete point sources of smoke (lower left) originate within the mountainous country on the border between the Russian Federation and Mongolia. The fires appear to be located within but near the edges of the green, forested areas (upper inset, a zoomed view of fires in the region just below center), which occupy higher elevations. Smaller patches of smoke appear beyond the main forested region (top left). Winds take smoke southward (towards the lower left). At the bottom of the view are the semiarid steppes of northern Mongolia which appear as a light brown. A prominent, angular burn scar can be seen indicating a grassland fire (center foreground and lower inset). (B) Fires in China and the Russian Far East, May 2, 1997. About 700 km of the coastal ranges of Russia and the mountainous north of North Korea appear as the darker feature crossing the photograph (NASA photograph NM23-763-613). Most of the view shows a widespread smoke pall, both inland in China (top in this west-looking view) and on the seaward side of the mountains (bottom). The smoke pall area on May 2, 1997 can be estimated from this view to be at least half a million km2. Individual fires appear on the seaward slopes with smoke plumes driven towards Japan by westerly winds (top right to lower left). |
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Figure 7.6
This mosaic of two electronic still camera images (NASA ESC images S86E5097 and S86E5098) shows an increase in smoke density in southern Sumatra, Indonesia, on September 26, 1997, during the ENSO-related smoke crisis in Southeast Asia. Forested slopes cover the flanks of many volcanoes in the south of Sumatra; further north (left) forest fires can be seen as white wedge shapes that fan out from the fire source. In the north, a general pall of smoke obscures all the lower elevations of the landscape, leaving only the volcano summits protruding (lower left). Small masses of cloud appear as brilliant white patches. Accompanying data from the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer (TOMS) satellite data shows contours of the aerosol index, a relative measure of the ultraviolet albedo for different wavelengths in the UV spectrum. The white arrows indicate the approximate positions of the top and bottom of the mosaic, right on the boundary between clear air and the smoke pall. (Modified from National Aeronautics and Space Administration, 1998a.) |
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Figure 7.7
Comparison of Mir photographs and satellite data on smoke from the Mexico-Central American fires of 1998. Contour maps of data from the TOMS satellite show the aerosol index, a relative measure of the ultraviolet albedo for different wavelengths in the UV spectrum. The tips of the white arrows indicate the approximate nadir location of the Mir and the arrow directions indicate the approximate look direction of the photographs. (A) Smoke palls in Mexico, May 16, 1998 (NASA photograph NASA7-726-20). The mountainous spine of the Sierra Madre del Sur in southern Mexico, 600 km long, runs diagonally across this southeast-looking view. The regional extent of a massive smoke pall is apparent on the Pacific flank of the Sierra, with the coastline dimly visible under the smoke (far right). Winds blow smoke plumes (long white tendrils) westward (to the right) from individual fires in forests at the higher elevations of the mountains. A mass of cloud (white region cutting across the view below the horizon) occupies the top of the view. (B) Central American smoke over Florida, U.S.A., May 19, 1998 (NASA photograph NASA7-725-22). This photograph was taken when the Mexico-Central America smoke transport reached its peak. This northeast-looking view shows smoke in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (foreground), partly obscuring the peninsula of Florida (middle ground), and extending hundreds of km into the Atlantic Ocean. The rounded object in the lower right corner is a part of the Mir station. To aid interpretation, a sketch map of the photograph is provided in the lower left. (Modified from National Aeronatuics and Space Administration, 1998b.) |
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Figure 7.8
Fires (dots) in Mexico and Central America in the burning seasons of 1993 and 1998. The data were obtained from the DMSP Operational Linescan System (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 1998). To enhance the contrast, we expanded the area of each dot by one pixel for both maps. |
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Figure 7.9
Distribution of seasonal forest fires in Africa and Madagascar (shaded areas), as sensed by DMSP satellite sensors in 1986 and 1987. The boundary between the rainforest biome and the savanna woodlands, which are more prone to burning, is shown by a dashed black line. The density of fire distribution wanes southward with the decline in rainfall in the Savanna, and concomitant decline in biomass. Anticyclonic circulation of the atmosphere over southern Africa (gray arrow) transports smoke typically via Angola into the tropical South Atlantic Ocean. Areas and view directions of the four photographs (Figures 7.10 and 7.11) are indicated with thin black lines. (Modified from Cahoon et al., 1992, and Garstang et al., 1996.) |
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Figure 7.10
Angola-Namibia borderlands, August 5, 1997 (locations mapped in Figure 7.9). (A) In this southwest-looking view (NASA photograph NASA5-707-14), the linear east-west border between Angola and Namibia appears prominently across the top of the view, with light tones indicating significantly thinner vegetation on the Namibian side (top left). By contrast, numerous fires appear in the savannas of southern Angola (center) where biomass volume is greater than in Namibia (due to increasing rainfall, high human population densities, and heavier grazing by herd animals on the Namibian side). As indicated by the smoke plumes from individual fires, two wind directions are apparent: in the top half (to the west), winds are southwesterly but in the lower half, winds are from the south-southeast. (B) This north-looking view (NASA photograph NASA5-706-196) shows the dry lakebed of Etosha Pan in northern Namibia (lower left) and many fires in the middle ground. A large, diffuse smoke pall in central Angola with a marked southern boundary stretches across the top of the view. Clouds appear on the horizon, top right, above the smoke layer. This more oblique view complements (A) by showing the same fires in the wider context of regional burning. |
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Figure 7.11
Transport of smoke to the Atlantic Ocean, June, 19, 1985 (locations mapped in Figure 8.9). (A) This oblique photograph of Angola in the dry season looks west toward the Atlantic Ocean and shows individual fires in the savannas (NASA photograph STS51G-46-39). Smoke plumes indicate wind movement to the west (bottom to top). (B) This is one of the best photographs illustrating the transport of smoke and pollutants from urban South Africa into the tropical South Atlantic (NASA photograph STS51G-46-77). Individual plumes give the sense of airflow towards the Atlantic Ocean. |
