At least once a year for a period lasting from a week to several
months, northern Sumatra is obscured by smoke and haze produced by
agricultural burning and forest fires. These data products from the
Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer document the presence of
airborne particulates on March 13, 2002, during Terra orbit
11880. On the left is an image acquired by MISR's 70-degree backward-
viewing camera. On the right is a map of aerosol optical depth, a
measure of the abundance of atmospheric particulates. This product
utilized a test version of the MISR retrieval that incorporates an
experimental set of aerosol mixtures. The haze has completely
obscured northeastern Sumatra and part of the Strait of Malacca,
which separates Sumatra and the Malaysian Peninsula. A northward
gradient is apparent as the haze dissipates in the direction of
the Malaysian landmass. Each panel covers an area of about
760 kilometers x 400 kilometers.
Haze conditions had posed a health concern during late February
(when schools in some parts of North Sumatra were closed), and
worsened considerably in the first two weeks of March. By mid-March,
local meteorology officials asked residents of North Sumatra's
provincial capital, Medan, to minimize their outdoor activities
and wear protective masks. Poor visibility at Medan airport forced
a passenger plane to divert to Malaysia on March 14, and visibility
reportedly ranged between 100 and 600 meters in some coastal towns
southeast of Medan.
The number and severity of this year's fires was exacerbated by
dry weather conditions associated with the onset of a weak to
moderate El Niņo. The governments of Indonesia, Malaysia, and
Brunei have agreed to ban open burning in plantation and forest
areas. The enforcement of such fire bans, however, has proven to
be an extremely challenging task.
MISR was built and is managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
Pasadena, CA, for NASA's Office of Earth Science, Washington, DC.
The Terra satellite is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center,
Greenbelt, MD. JPL is a division of the California Institute of
Technology.
Image credit: NASA/GSFC/LaRC/JPL, MISR Team.
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