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If there were an apex predator among fires, tropical peatland<\/a> <\/strong>fires would be a top contender. These fires, which burn in dried wetland soils, are slow-burning, highly polluting, and notoriously difficult to extinguish because they smolder at low temperatures and often burn underground through expansive deposits of peat<\/a>. By one estimate<\/a>, peat fires generate three times more fine particulate matter<\/a> than other tropical forest fires, five times more sulfur dioxide, three times more organic carbon, and two times more methane and carbon monoxide.<\/p>\nFire season was underway in Indonesia when the MODIS<\/a> (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA\u2019s Aqua<\/a> satellite captured this image on September 1, 2026. In the map on the right, each red dot depicts one \u201cfire detection<\/a>.\u201d A fire detection is a pixel in which the sensor and an algorithm<\/a> determined there were thermal anomalies<\/a> indicative of fire. Multiple detections can be generated by a single fire.<\/p>\nPeat fires are a recurring challenge in Indonesia, which is home to about 36 percent<\/a> of the world\u2019s tropical peatlands. When parched by drought, the archipelago\u2019s peat landscapes have become unrelenting infernos on several occasions over the past three decades, with fires producing blankets of smoke for weeks on end and upending daily life for millions of people.<\/p>\nWhile fires occur in Indonesia every year, previous El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> years\u20141997 and 2015 especially\u2014produced the most extreme burning in recent decades. The climate pattern, assessed by NOAA as present and strengthening<\/a> in August, typically leads to sharp reductions in rainfall in Indonesia, particularly when combined with a positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole<\/a>, which was also present.<\/p>\n\u201cIndonesia is only about three weeks into its fire season, but we\u2019re seeing fire activity track sharply upward, similar to 2015,\u201d said Robert Field, a Columbia University researcher who developed a tool called the Global Fire Weather Database<\/a> that produces experimental, real-time fire weather forecasts. \u201cThe strong\u00a0El Ni\u00f1o is\u00a0making the dry season drier over the fire-prone parts of the country and exacerbating burning\u2014just as we anticipated it would,\u201d he said. In 2015, after burning for more than three months, Indonesia\u2019s fires had released 1.75 billion tons of greenhouse gas equivalents\u2014more than Japan emits in a year. As of September 2, Indonesia\u2019s 2026 fires, having burned for about a month, have released roughly 10 percent as much as the 2015 fires.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nAs in 2015, Indonesia was in the midst of a severe and widespread drought in summer 2026. About 90 percent of the country received little to no rainfall in early August, according to data from the Indonesian meteorological agency. Normally, it\u2019s too wet for fires to spread through underground peat deposits in Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Papua, but they can in dry conditions. \u201cSurface fires are less of a concern, but when fires get underground, they just won\u2019t stop,\u201d Field said. \u201cThey\u2019ll keep burning until the rains come in October or November.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nThe Indonesian government uses NASA and NOAA observations from the MODIS and VIIRS<\/a> sensors to track active fires in near-real-time. Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Forestry MODIS- and VIIRS-based fire-monitoring platform SiPongi<\/a>, for instance, tallied 946 hotspots on August 31, 2026.<\/p>\nHowever, it\u2019s difficult for MODIS and VIIRS to detect fires through thick smoke or clouds, within the forest understory, or underground in peat deposits. When Indonesian fires become the most intense, the number of fires recorded by VIIRS or MODIS can actually decrease. \u201cThe worst smoke events, paradoxically, can be the hardest to observe from space with MODIS and VIIRS,\u201d said Mark Cochrane, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who has conducted field research on peat fires in Indonesia for nearly a decade.<\/p>\nThe large-scale construction of irrigation canals and drainage of peat swamps in the 1990s, part of an effort to establish massive rice farms<\/a>, contributed to the flammability of the region today by significantly lowering the water table in wetland areas, Cochrane said. He also noted that oil palm and other plantation forestry is common in this region. Yet after an unusually grim fire season<\/a> in 2015, governments and other organizations have worked to dam up some irrigation canals and restore wetlands. There have also been renewed efforts to improve firefighting capacity and reduce the number of fires that people accidentally ignite.<\/p>\n\u201cThis year will be a real stress test of the measures that were put in place after 2015,\u201d said Shi Jun Wee, a University of Maryland graduate student. Wee is working on a team partnering with NASA and MapBiomas<\/a> to develop new algorithms and techniques to detect more understory fires than MODIS and VIIRS can by tapping into shortwave infrared observations from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites. As the fires progress, he plans to track developments using NASA\u2019s Worldview<\/a> data browser, FIRMS<\/a> (Fire Information for Resource Management System), HLS<\/a> (Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2) observations, and GFED<\/a> (Global Fire Emissions Database).<\/p>\nOn the ground in Indonesia and neighboring countries, the smoke is already causing widespread disruptions. Indonesian officials have warned that large swaths of the population have been exposed to hazardous smoke. Some schools started shifting to remote learning, nine national parks have closed<\/a>, and several flights have been delayed<\/a> due to heavy smoke, according to news reports.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
Fire season was underway in Indonesia when the MODIS<\/a> (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) on NASA\u2019s Aqua<\/a> satellite captured this image on September 1, 2026. In the map on the right, each red dot depicts one \u201cfire detection<\/a>.\u201d A fire detection is a pixel in which the sensor and an algorithm<\/a> determined there were thermal anomalies<\/a> indicative of fire. Multiple detections can be generated by a single fire.<\/p>\nPeat fires are a recurring challenge in Indonesia, which is home to about 36 percent<\/a> of the world\u2019s tropical peatlands. When parched by drought, the archipelago\u2019s peat landscapes have become unrelenting infernos on several occasions over the past three decades, with fires producing blankets of smoke for weeks on end and upending daily life for millions of people.<\/p>\nWhile fires occur in Indonesia every year, previous El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> years\u20141997 and 2015 especially\u2014produced the most extreme burning in recent decades. The climate pattern, assessed by NOAA as present and strengthening<\/a> in August, typically leads to sharp reductions in rainfall in Indonesia, particularly when combined with a positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole<\/a>, which was also present.<\/p>\n\u201cIndonesia is only about three weeks into its fire season, but we\u2019re seeing fire activity track sharply upward, similar to 2015,\u201d said Robert Field, a Columbia University researcher who developed a tool called the Global Fire Weather Database<\/a> that produces experimental, real-time fire weather forecasts. \u201cThe strong\u00a0El Ni\u00f1o is\u00a0making the dry season drier over the fire-prone parts of the country and exacerbating burning\u2014just as we anticipated it would,\u201d he said. In 2015, after burning for more than three months, Indonesia\u2019s fires had released 1.75 billion tons of greenhouse gas equivalents\u2014more than Japan emits in a year. As of September 2, Indonesia\u2019s 2026 fires, having burned for about a month, have released roughly 10 percent as much as the 2015 fires.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nAs in 2015, Indonesia was in the midst of a severe and widespread drought in summer 2026. About 90 percent of the country received little to no rainfall in early August, according to data from the Indonesian meteorological agency. Normally, it\u2019s too wet for fires to spread through underground peat deposits in Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Papua, but they can in dry conditions. \u201cSurface fires are less of a concern, but when fires get underground, they just won\u2019t stop,\u201d Field said. \u201cThey\u2019ll keep burning until the rains come in October or November.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nThe Indonesian government uses NASA and NOAA observations from the MODIS and VIIRS<\/a> sensors to track active fires in near-real-time. Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Forestry MODIS- and VIIRS-based fire-monitoring platform SiPongi<\/a>, for instance, tallied 946 hotspots on August 31, 2026.<\/p>\nHowever, it\u2019s difficult for MODIS and VIIRS to detect fires through thick smoke or clouds, within the forest understory, or underground in peat deposits. When Indonesian fires become the most intense, the number of fires recorded by VIIRS or MODIS can actually decrease. \u201cThe worst smoke events, paradoxically, can be the hardest to observe from space with MODIS and VIIRS,\u201d said Mark Cochrane, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who has conducted field research on peat fires in Indonesia for nearly a decade.<\/p>\nThe large-scale construction of irrigation canals and drainage of peat swamps in the 1990s, part of an effort to establish massive rice farms<\/a>, contributed to the flammability of the region today by significantly lowering the water table in wetland areas, Cochrane said. He also noted that oil palm and other plantation forestry is common in this region. Yet after an unusually grim fire season<\/a> in 2015, governments and other organizations have worked to dam up some irrigation canals and restore wetlands. There have also been renewed efforts to improve firefighting capacity and reduce the number of fires that people accidentally ignite.<\/p>\n\u201cThis year will be a real stress test of the measures that were put in place after 2015,\u201d said Shi Jun Wee, a University of Maryland graduate student. Wee is working on a team partnering with NASA and MapBiomas<\/a> to develop new algorithms and techniques to detect more understory fires than MODIS and VIIRS can by tapping into shortwave infrared observations from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites. As the fires progress, he plans to track developments using NASA\u2019s Worldview<\/a> data browser, FIRMS<\/a> (Fire Information for Resource Management System), HLS<\/a> (Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2) observations, and GFED<\/a> (Global Fire Emissions Database).<\/p>\nOn the ground in Indonesia and neighboring countries, the smoke is already causing widespread disruptions. Indonesian officials have warned that large swaths of the population have been exposed to hazardous smoke. Some schools started shifting to remote learning, nine national parks have closed<\/a>, and several flights have been delayed<\/a> due to heavy smoke, according to news reports.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
Peat fires are a recurring challenge in Indonesia, which is home to about 36 percent<\/a> of the world\u2019s tropical peatlands. When parched by drought, the archipelago\u2019s peat landscapes have become unrelenting infernos on several occasions over the past three decades, with fires producing blankets of smoke for weeks on end and upending daily life for millions of people.<\/p>\nWhile fires occur in Indonesia every year, previous El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> years\u20141997 and 2015 especially\u2014produced the most extreme burning in recent decades. The climate pattern, assessed by NOAA as present and strengthening<\/a> in August, typically leads to sharp reductions in rainfall in Indonesia, particularly when combined with a positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole<\/a>, which was also present.<\/p>\n\u201cIndonesia is only about three weeks into its fire season, but we\u2019re seeing fire activity track sharply upward, similar to 2015,\u201d said Robert Field, a Columbia University researcher who developed a tool called the Global Fire Weather Database<\/a> that produces experimental, real-time fire weather forecasts. \u201cThe strong\u00a0El Ni\u00f1o is\u00a0making the dry season drier over the fire-prone parts of the country and exacerbating burning\u2014just as we anticipated it would,\u201d he said. In 2015, after burning for more than three months, Indonesia\u2019s fires had released 1.75 billion tons of greenhouse gas equivalents\u2014more than Japan emits in a year. As of September 2, Indonesia\u2019s 2026 fires, having burned for about a month, have released roughly 10 percent as much as the 2015 fires.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nAs in 2015, Indonesia was in the midst of a severe and widespread drought in summer 2026. About 90 percent of the country received little to no rainfall in early August, according to data from the Indonesian meteorological agency. Normally, it\u2019s too wet for fires to spread through underground peat deposits in Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Papua, but they can in dry conditions. \u201cSurface fires are less of a concern, but when fires get underground, they just won\u2019t stop,\u201d Field said. \u201cThey\u2019ll keep burning until the rains come in October or November.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nThe Indonesian government uses NASA and NOAA observations from the MODIS and VIIRS<\/a> sensors to track active fires in near-real-time. Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Forestry MODIS- and VIIRS-based fire-monitoring platform SiPongi<\/a>, for instance, tallied 946 hotspots on August 31, 2026.<\/p>\nHowever, it\u2019s difficult for MODIS and VIIRS to detect fires through thick smoke or clouds, within the forest understory, or underground in peat deposits. When Indonesian fires become the most intense, the number of fires recorded by VIIRS or MODIS can actually decrease. \u201cThe worst smoke events, paradoxically, can be the hardest to observe from space with MODIS and VIIRS,\u201d said Mark Cochrane, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who has conducted field research on peat fires in Indonesia for nearly a decade.<\/p>\nThe large-scale construction of irrigation canals and drainage of peat swamps in the 1990s, part of an effort to establish massive rice farms<\/a>, contributed to the flammability of the region today by significantly lowering the water table in wetland areas, Cochrane said. He also noted that oil palm and other plantation forestry is common in this region. Yet after an unusually grim fire season<\/a> in 2015, governments and other organizations have worked to dam up some irrigation canals and restore wetlands. There have also been renewed efforts to improve firefighting capacity and reduce the number of fires that people accidentally ignite.<\/p>\n\u201cThis year will be a real stress test of the measures that were put in place after 2015,\u201d said Shi Jun Wee, a University of Maryland graduate student. Wee is working on a team partnering with NASA and MapBiomas<\/a> to develop new algorithms and techniques to detect more understory fires than MODIS and VIIRS can by tapping into shortwave infrared observations from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites. As the fires progress, he plans to track developments using NASA\u2019s Worldview<\/a> data browser, FIRMS<\/a> (Fire Information for Resource Management System), HLS<\/a> (Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2) observations, and GFED<\/a> (Global Fire Emissions Database).<\/p>\nOn the ground in Indonesia and neighboring countries, the smoke is already causing widespread disruptions. Indonesian officials have warned that large swaths of the population have been exposed to hazardous smoke. Some schools started shifting to remote learning, nine national parks have closed<\/a>, and several flights have been delayed<\/a> due to heavy smoke, according to news reports.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
While fires occur in Indonesia every year, previous El Ni\u00f1o<\/a> years\u20141997 and 2015 especially\u2014produced the most extreme burning in recent decades. The climate pattern, assessed by NOAA as present and strengthening<\/a> in August, typically leads to sharp reductions in rainfall in Indonesia, particularly when combined with a positive phase of the Indian Ocean Dipole<\/a>, which was also present.<\/p>\n\u201cIndonesia is only about three weeks into its fire season, but we\u2019re seeing fire activity track sharply upward, similar to 2015,\u201d said Robert Field, a Columbia University researcher who developed a tool called the Global Fire Weather Database<\/a> that produces experimental, real-time fire weather forecasts. \u201cThe strong\u00a0El Ni\u00f1o is\u00a0making the dry season drier over the fire-prone parts of the country and exacerbating burning\u2014just as we anticipated it would,\u201d he said. In 2015, after burning for more than three months, Indonesia\u2019s fires had released 1.75 billion tons of greenhouse gas equivalents\u2014more than Japan emits in a year. As of September 2, Indonesia\u2019s 2026 fires, having burned for about a month, have released roughly 10 percent as much as the 2015 fires.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nAs in 2015, Indonesia was in the midst of a severe and widespread drought in summer 2026. About 90 percent of the country received little to no rainfall in early August, according to data from the Indonesian meteorological agency. Normally, it\u2019s too wet for fires to spread through underground peat deposits in Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Papua, but they can in dry conditions. \u201cSurface fires are less of a concern, but when fires get underground, they just won\u2019t stop,\u201d Field said. \u201cThey\u2019ll keep burning until the rains come in October or November.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nThe Indonesian government uses NASA and NOAA observations from the MODIS and VIIRS<\/a> sensors to track active fires in near-real-time. Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Forestry MODIS- and VIIRS-based fire-monitoring platform SiPongi<\/a>, for instance, tallied 946 hotspots on August 31, 2026.<\/p>\nHowever, it\u2019s difficult for MODIS and VIIRS to detect fires through thick smoke or clouds, within the forest understory, or underground in peat deposits. When Indonesian fires become the most intense, the number of fires recorded by VIIRS or MODIS can actually decrease. \u201cThe worst smoke events, paradoxically, can be the hardest to observe from space with MODIS and VIIRS,\u201d said Mark Cochrane, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who has conducted field research on peat fires in Indonesia for nearly a decade.<\/p>\nThe large-scale construction of irrigation canals and drainage of peat swamps in the 1990s, part of an effort to establish massive rice farms<\/a>, contributed to the flammability of the region today by significantly lowering the water table in wetland areas, Cochrane said. He also noted that oil palm and other plantation forestry is common in this region. Yet after an unusually grim fire season<\/a> in 2015, governments and other organizations have worked to dam up some irrigation canals and restore wetlands. There have also been renewed efforts to improve firefighting capacity and reduce the number of fires that people accidentally ignite.<\/p>\n\u201cThis year will be a real stress test of the measures that were put in place after 2015,\u201d said Shi Jun Wee, a University of Maryland graduate student. Wee is working on a team partnering with NASA and MapBiomas<\/a> to develop new algorithms and techniques to detect more understory fires than MODIS and VIIRS can by tapping into shortwave infrared observations from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites. As the fires progress, he plans to track developments using NASA\u2019s Worldview<\/a> data browser, FIRMS<\/a> (Fire Information for Resource Management System), HLS<\/a> (Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2) observations, and GFED<\/a> (Global Fire Emissions Database).<\/p>\nOn the ground in Indonesia and neighboring countries, the smoke is already causing widespread disruptions. Indonesian officials have warned that large swaths of the population have been exposed to hazardous smoke. Some schools started shifting to remote learning, nine national parks have closed<\/a>, and several flights have been delayed<\/a> due to heavy smoke, according to news reports.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
\u201cIndonesia is only about three weeks into its fire season, but we\u2019re seeing fire activity track sharply upward, similar to 2015,\u201d said Robert Field, a Columbia University researcher who developed a tool called the Global Fire Weather Database<\/a> that produces experimental, real-time fire weather forecasts. \u201cThe strong\u00a0El Ni\u00f1o is\u00a0making the dry season drier over the fire-prone parts of the country and exacerbating burning\u2014just as we anticipated it would,\u201d he said. In 2015, after burning for more than three months, Indonesia\u2019s fires had released 1.75 billion tons of greenhouse gas equivalents\u2014more than Japan emits in a year. As of September 2, Indonesia\u2019s 2026 fires, having burned for about a month, have released roughly 10 percent as much as the 2015 fires.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nAs in 2015, Indonesia was in the midst of a severe and widespread drought in summer 2026. About 90 percent of the country received little to no rainfall in early August, according to data from the Indonesian meteorological agency. Normally, it\u2019s too wet for fires to spread through underground peat deposits in Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Papua, but they can in dry conditions. \u201cSurface fires are less of a concern, but when fires get underground, they just won\u2019t stop,\u201d Field said. \u201cThey\u2019ll keep burning until the rains come in October or November.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\nThe Indonesian government uses NASA and NOAA observations from the MODIS and VIIRS<\/a> sensors to track active fires in near-real-time. Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Forestry MODIS- and VIIRS-based fire-monitoring platform SiPongi<\/a>, for instance, tallied 946 hotspots on August 31, 2026.<\/p>\nHowever, it\u2019s difficult for MODIS and VIIRS to detect fires through thick smoke or clouds, within the forest understory, or underground in peat deposits. When Indonesian fires become the most intense, the number of fires recorded by VIIRS or MODIS can actually decrease. \u201cThe worst smoke events, paradoxically, can be the hardest to observe from space with MODIS and VIIRS,\u201d said Mark Cochrane, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who has conducted field research on peat fires in Indonesia for nearly a decade.<\/p>\nThe large-scale construction of irrigation canals and drainage of peat swamps in the 1990s, part of an effort to establish massive rice farms<\/a>, contributed to the flammability of the region today by significantly lowering the water table in wetland areas, Cochrane said. He also noted that oil palm and other plantation forestry is common in this region. Yet after an unusually grim fire season<\/a> in 2015, governments and other organizations have worked to dam up some irrigation canals and restore wetlands. There have also been renewed efforts to improve firefighting capacity and reduce the number of fires that people accidentally ignite.<\/p>\n\u201cThis year will be a real stress test of the measures that were put in place after 2015,\u201d said Shi Jun Wee, a University of Maryland graduate student. Wee is working on a team partnering with NASA and MapBiomas<\/a> to develop new algorithms and techniques to detect more understory fires than MODIS and VIIRS can by tapping into shortwave infrared observations from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites. As the fires progress, he plans to track developments using NASA\u2019s Worldview<\/a> data browser, FIRMS<\/a> (Fire Information for Resource Management System), HLS<\/a> (Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2) observations, and GFED<\/a> (Global Fire Emissions Database).<\/p>\nOn the ground in Indonesia and neighboring countries, the smoke is already causing widespread disruptions. Indonesian officials have warned that large swaths of the population have been exposed to hazardous smoke. Some schools started shifting to remote learning, nine national parks have closed<\/a>, and several flights have been delayed<\/a> due to heavy smoke, according to news reports.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
As in 2015, Indonesia was in the midst of a severe and widespread drought in summer 2026. About 90 percent of the country received little to no rainfall in early August, according to data from the Indonesian meteorological agency. Normally, it\u2019s too wet for fires to spread through underground peat deposits in Kalimantan, Sumatra, and Papua, but they can in dry conditions. \u201cSurface fires are less of a concern, but when fires get underground, they just won\u2019t stop,\u201d Field said. \u201cThey\u2019ll keep burning until the rains come in October or November.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Indonesian government uses NASA and NOAA observations from the MODIS and VIIRS<\/a> sensors to track active fires in near-real-time. Indonesia\u2019s Ministry of Forestry MODIS- and VIIRS-based fire-monitoring platform SiPongi<\/a>, for instance, tallied 946 hotspots on August 31, 2026.<\/p>\nHowever, it\u2019s difficult for MODIS and VIIRS to detect fires through thick smoke or clouds, within the forest understory, or underground in peat deposits. When Indonesian fires become the most intense, the number of fires recorded by VIIRS or MODIS can actually decrease. \u201cThe worst smoke events, paradoxically, can be the hardest to observe from space with MODIS and VIIRS,\u201d said Mark Cochrane, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who has conducted field research on peat fires in Indonesia for nearly a decade.<\/p>\nThe large-scale construction of irrigation canals and drainage of peat swamps in the 1990s, part of an effort to establish massive rice farms<\/a>, contributed to the flammability of the region today by significantly lowering the water table in wetland areas, Cochrane said. He also noted that oil palm and other plantation forestry is common in this region. Yet after an unusually grim fire season<\/a> in 2015, governments and other organizations have worked to dam up some irrigation canals and restore wetlands. There have also been renewed efforts to improve firefighting capacity and reduce the number of fires that people accidentally ignite.<\/p>\n\u201cThis year will be a real stress test of the measures that were put in place after 2015,\u201d said Shi Jun Wee, a University of Maryland graduate student. Wee is working on a team partnering with NASA and MapBiomas<\/a> to develop new algorithms and techniques to detect more understory fires than MODIS and VIIRS can by tapping into shortwave infrared observations from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites. As the fires progress, he plans to track developments using NASA\u2019s Worldview<\/a> data browser, FIRMS<\/a> (Fire Information for Resource Management System), HLS<\/a> (Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2) observations, and GFED<\/a> (Global Fire Emissions Database).<\/p>\nOn the ground in Indonesia and neighboring countries, the smoke is already causing widespread disruptions. Indonesian officials have warned that large swaths of the population have been exposed to hazardous smoke. Some schools started shifting to remote learning, nine national parks have closed<\/a>, and several flights have been delayed<\/a> due to heavy smoke, according to news reports.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s difficult for MODIS and VIIRS to detect fires through thick smoke or clouds, within the forest understory, or underground in peat deposits. When Indonesian fires become the most intense, the number of fires recorded by VIIRS or MODIS can actually decrease. \u201cThe worst smoke events, paradoxically, can be the hardest to observe from space with MODIS and VIIRS,\u201d said Mark Cochrane, an ecologist at the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science who has conducted field research on peat fires in Indonesia for nearly a decade.<\/p>\n
The large-scale construction of irrigation canals and drainage of peat swamps in the 1990s, part of an effort to establish massive rice farms<\/a>, contributed to the flammability of the region today by significantly lowering the water table in wetland areas, Cochrane said. He also noted that oil palm and other plantation forestry is common in this region. Yet after an unusually grim fire season<\/a> in 2015, governments and other organizations have worked to dam up some irrigation canals and restore wetlands. There have also been renewed efforts to improve firefighting capacity and reduce the number of fires that people accidentally ignite.<\/p>\n\u201cThis year will be a real stress test of the measures that were put in place after 2015,\u201d said Shi Jun Wee, a University of Maryland graduate student. Wee is working on a team partnering with NASA and MapBiomas<\/a> to develop new algorithms and techniques to detect more understory fires than MODIS and VIIRS can by tapping into shortwave infrared observations from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites. As the fires progress, he plans to track developments using NASA\u2019s Worldview<\/a> data browser, FIRMS<\/a> (Fire Information for Resource Management System), HLS<\/a> (Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2) observations, and GFED<\/a> (Global Fire Emissions Database).<\/p>\nOn the ground in Indonesia and neighboring countries, the smoke is already causing widespread disruptions. Indonesian officials have warned that large swaths of the population have been exposed to hazardous smoke. Some schools started shifting to remote learning, nine national parks have closed<\/a>, and several flights have been delayed<\/a> due to heavy smoke, according to news reports.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
\u201cThis year will be a real stress test of the measures that were put in place after 2015,\u201d said Shi Jun Wee, a University of Maryland graduate student. Wee is working on a team partnering with NASA and MapBiomas<\/a> to develop new algorithms and techniques to detect more understory fires than MODIS and VIIRS can by tapping into shortwave infrared observations from Landsat and Sentinel-2 satellites. As the fires progress, he plans to track developments using NASA\u2019s Worldview<\/a> data browser, FIRMS<\/a> (Fire Information for Resource Management System), HLS<\/a> (Harmonized Landsat and Sentinel-2) observations, and GFED<\/a> (Global Fire Emissions Database).<\/p>\nOn the ground in Indonesia and neighboring countries, the smoke is already causing widespread disruptions. Indonesian officials have warned that large swaths of the population have been exposed to hazardous smoke. Some schools started shifting to remote learning, nine national parks have closed<\/a>, and several flights have been delayed<\/a> due to heavy smoke, according to news reports.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
On the ground in Indonesia and neighboring countries, the smoke is already causing widespread disruptions. Indonesian officials have warned that large swaths of the population have been exposed to hazardous smoke. Some schools started shifting to remote learning, nine national parks have closed<\/a>, and several flights have been delayed<\/a> due to heavy smoke, according to news reports.<\/p>\n\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
\u201cPeople tend to focus on these fires during an El Ni\u00f1o and then forget about them,\u201d Cochrane said. \u201cWe need sustained focus, even during the years when they aren\u2019t as bad, to solve this,\u201d he said. \u201cThese fires create a tremendous amount of emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n
NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA\u00a0<\/em>EOSDIS LANCE<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>GIBS\/Worldview<\/em><\/a>.<\/em>\u00a0Story by Adam Voiland.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\tDownloads\t\t\t\t<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSeptember 1, 2026<\/h2>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n\nJPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/circle><\/path><\/path><\/svg>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nReferences & Resources <\/h2>\n\nBMKG (2026, August 13) Analisis Dinamika Atmosfer Dasarian I Agustus 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nChannel News Asia (2026, September 2) Indonesia closes 9 national parks temporarily following forest fires; prioritises firefighting in 6 provinces<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nThe Conversation (2026, August 23) Borneo forest fires spike again: Why El Ni\u00f1o isn\u2019t the sole\u00a0culprit<\/a>. \u00a0Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nField, R., et al.<\/em> (2016, August 1) Indonesian fire activity and smoke pollution in 2015 show persistent nonlinear sensitivity to El Ni\u00f1o-induced drought<\/a>. PNAS, <\/em>113 (33) 9204-92. \u00a0<\/li>\nKementerian Kehutanan Republik Indonesia (2026, August 31) Update Terbaru Karhutla: Hotspot Menurun, Penanganan Diperkuat<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nNASA Earth Observatory (2015, December 1) Seeing Through the Smoky Pall: Observations from a Grim Indonesian Fire Season<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nReliefWeb (2026, August 25) IDN: Fire \u2013 07-2026 \u2013 Indonesia: Forest Fires and Haze in Sumatra and Kalimantan. Accessed September 2, 2026<\/a>. Accessed September 2, 2026.<\/li>\nVan der Werf, G., et al.<\/em> (2025) Landscape fire emissions from the 5th<\/sup> version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5)<\/a>. Scientific Data,<\/em> 12, 1870.<\/li>\nYokelson, R., et al.<\/em> (2022) Tropical peat fire emissions: 2019 field measurements in Sumatra and Borneo and synthesis with previous studies<\/a>. ACP<\/em>, 22, 10173-10194.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n\n\n\nYou may also be interested in:<\/h2>\nStay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n <\/p>\n
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JPEG (3.34 MB)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Stay up-to-date with the latest content from NASA as we explore the universe and discover more about our home planet.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n