Maximum Alert for Forest Fires in Provence, France

Drought and the Mistral wind pose unprecedented threat of forest fires in Provence 

Seven of the nine departments in the southern French region of Provence are experiencing “exceptional threat” of forest fires and have been placed on maximum alert.  The other two departments, Var and the neighboring Bouches-du-Rhône, are currently on “very severe” alert.

❗️ Lundi 24 juillet 2017, risque incendie EXCEPTIONNEL ⚫️ pour 7 massifs forestiers du #Var. Infos sur https://t.co/yyAeZVBkch pic.twitter.com/rRZY98TZLc

— Préfet du Var (@Prefet83) July 23, 2017

French Grape Harvest

Meanwhile, French grape harvest is expected to drop to a historic low, this year, according to the agriculture ministry.

“At 37.6 million hectolitres the 2017 harvest is set to come in 17% lower than in 2016, and 16% below the average of the past five years.”

Germany

Very low rainfall in Germany has led to low water levels on the Rhine and Danube rivers, preventing cargo ships from being fully loaded.

Dry weather is also impacting rivers in Switzerland.

• Details of regional forecast issued by FIRE-EARTH Science Team are available via FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.

Apocalyptic Fires Incinerate Victims Fleeing in their Cars

Many killed or injured in forest fires near Coimbra, Portugal

Dozens of people were killed and dozens more injured while trying to flee forest fire in Portugal.

Most of the victims were incinerated in their cars while trying to flee an apocalyptic blaze in Pedrógão Grande area, about 50 km  southeast of Coimbra, Portuguese authorities said.

“This is the greatest disaster we have experienced in recent years in terms of forest fires,” said the prime minister.

The casualty toll currently stands at 65 dead and about 70 injured.

About 80 forest fires have broken out across Portugal since Friday.

 

 

Major Forest Fire Burns Fruit Orchards in Cyprus

Largest ever fire in Cyprus consumes about 15 km² of forest 

Strong winds and temperatures exceeding 40°C continue to fuel a major forest fire, burning on multiple fronts, which has destroyed about 15 km² of forest and fruit orchards in the country.

Residents in several communities have been evacuated, as dozens of planes, helicopters and ground vehicles and more than 300 personnel attempt to bring the fires under control.

The fire is said to be the largest in Cyprus after the Saittas fire in June 2007, which consumed about 10 km², causing millions worth of damage in the region, said a report.

Read more…

 

Deadly Forest Fires Plague Northern India

Drought, heatwaves intensify forest fires in Uttarakhand, N. Indian

Hundreds of forest fires have killed at least a dozen people and consumed thousands of hectares (acres) of forest in the India’s northern Himalayan state of Uttarakhand.

About 430 separate fires have been burning simultaneously since Friday, according to local reports.

Fires have been widespread this year due multiple factors including record-breaking heatwaves, exceptionally dry forests and minimal rainfall.

National Disaster Relief Force (NDRF) reported that 70% of the flames have been put out earlier today, according to satellite imagery.

‘Parched earth, broken promises’

Meanwhile, million of people hit by a third year of “epic drought” across India’s parched districts say the government is not doing nearly enough to help, said a report.

Related Links

• Extreme Heat Kills Hundreds of People across South Asia April 30, 2016
• Deadly Heatwave Intensifies in India, Odisha Broils at Record 48.5ºC April 25, 2016
• Vietnam Reports Mass Fish Deaths April 22, 2016
• 330 Million People Affected by Severe Drought: Indian Govt April 20, 2016
• Deadly Heatwave Persists in India April 14, 2016

 

State of Emergency Declared in Sumatra’s Riau Province due to Smoke from Forest Fires

Malaysia closes schools as blanket of smoke covers Kuala Lumpur, adjacent states

Malaysian schools have been ordered closed as a hazardous smog from Indonesian forest fires blankets the capital, multiple states and neighboring Singapore.

At least 34 of Malaysia’s 52 air quality stations were recoding  unhealthy air levels on Tuesday, according to local reports.

Meanwhile, Indonesian authorities declared a State of Emergency in Sumatra’s Riau province as hazardous levels of pollution were reported in multiple regions, including Sumatra and Borneo.

“Tens of thousands of people in smoke-choked regions of Sumatra and Borneo have fallen ill, while air travel there has also been disrupted due to poor visibility,” said a report.

Forest Fires Plague SW Europe amid Record Temperatures

Iberia turned into a tinderbox

Thousands evacuated in Spain amid raging wildfires in the west and southeast of the country.

Meanwhile, about 80% of neighboring Portugal is facing severe or extreme drought conditions, according to the local climatologists.

Copyright © Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera 2012 2015. See blog Fair Use Notice for educational purposes.

Meteorologists expect the temperature in southern Germany to break all-time high of 40.3C (105F) on Friday, a record that was set just over a month ago on 5 July in the town of Kitzingen in Bavaria, said a report.

France’s weather agency issued Extreme Heat Warnings for central and eastern France Friday, forecasting temperatures of up to 40C in many regions.

“This summer has been a particularly hot one for France and left many areas in drought and with water restrictions imposed,” said a report.

Thousands of Fires Caused by Dry Spell in Malaysia

EXTREME CLIMATIC EVENTS
DRY SPELL
LARGE SWARMS OF WILDFIRES
WATER FAMINE
“STATE OF CRISIS”
.

Water rationing enforced as thousands of wildfires plague Malaysia

The state of Selangor, Malaysia’s wealthiest state, began water rationing on Tuesday as their reservoirs dipped to critically low levels.

“We pledge that every consumer will receive water, but it will be rationed to ensure supply every two days,” the state chief minister was reported as saying.

“In a week, consumers will receive water for four days.”

Meanwhile, authorities revealed more than 7,000 forest and bushfires had been reported throughout the country since early February, five times the normal.

The state of Negeri Sembilan, near the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur, has already declared a “state of crisis” due to water shortage.

“In peninsular Malaysia, 15 areas have not had rainfall in more than 20 days, with some of them dry for more than a month, according to the Malaysian Meteorological Department. The dry weather is expected to run for another two weeks,” reported Reuters.

SE Asia 30-day precipitation anomaly (mm) for 27 Jan. – 25 Feb. 2014. Source: cpc.ncep.noaa

Singapore

The city-state of Singapore has experienced its longest dry spell on record, between January 13  and  February 8,  and has received little rain since.

Authorities say the dry weather contributed to the death of fish stocks at offshore aquaculture facilities. More than 160 tons of fish have perished recently due to a lack of oxygen in the water.

Indonesia

Governor of Riau declared a province-wide state of emergency as forest-clearing fires raged out of control due to drought.

Smog caused by record air pollution has enveloped a large region of Sumatra, forcing the pollutants standard index (PSI) to climb to a hazardous 778, and prompting authorities to close schools and urge residents to stay at home.

Forest-Clearing Fires in Indonesia

Many of the fires, started intentionally to clear the forests, have been raging since early February, engulfing forests in six provinces on Sumatra Island.

Smoke rises from a burning forest in Sumatra. Credit: Antara/FB Anggoro. Image may be subject to copyright.

Satellite images showed more than 700 hotspots in Sumatra alone on February 15, nearly twice the number the previous day, with at least 600 of the blazes in Riau Province , said a report.

“We have asked the central government to help with fighting fires by sending aircraft,” said the newly-sworn-in governor of Riau.

“If it’s just helicopters, we won’t be able to cope.”

Raging Forest Fires: State of Emergency Declared in Riau, Indonesia

EXTREME CLIMATIC EVENT
DROUGHT
FOREST CLEARING FIRES
STATE OF EMERGENCY
.

RIAU declares a state of emergency amid major forest fires

RIAU declared a province-wide state of emergency amid forest-clearing fires raging out of control due to drought.

Smog caused by record air pollution has enveloped a large region forcing the pollutants standard index (PSI) to climb to a hazardous 778, and prompting authorities to close schools and urge residents to stay at home.

Port officials along the Strait of Malacca, meanwhile, issued multiple warnings as visibility plunged to below 50m.

Riau Province is located in the central eastern coast of Sumatra, Indonesia’s largest island, along the Strait of Malacca.

Forest-Clearing Fires in Indonesia

Many of the fires, started intentionally to clear the forests, have been raging since early February, engulfing forests in six provinces on Sumatra Island.

Smoke rises from a burning forest in Sumatra. Credit: Antara/FB Anggoro. Image may be subject to copyright.

Satellite images showed more than 700 hotspots in Sumatra alone on February 15, nearly twice the number the previous day, with at least 600 of the blazes in Riau Province , said a report.

“We have asked the central government to help with fighting fires by sending aircraft,” said the newly-sworn-in governor of Riau.

“If it’s just helicopters, we won’t be able to cope,” he added.

Forest Fires Force Thousands to Evacuate in Canary Islands

Disaster Calendar – 12 August 2012

SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,312 Days Left

[August 12, 2012] Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,312 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History…

Symbolic countdown began to the ‘worst day’ in human history on May 15, 2011...

–

Soaring heat spurs more forest fires across Canary Islands forcing thousands to flee their homes

A new round of forest fires consumed hundreds of hectares on Tenerife and La Gomera islands, two of Spain’s Canary Islands, located off the coast of Africa.

• At least 4,000 people were evacuated.
• The new blazes have consumed a total of about 1,000 hectares on both island.
• Since last week, wildfires have consumed about 4,000 hectares on Canary Islands.

• See also: Disaster Calendar – 5 August 2012

Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events

• East Azerbaijan province, Iran.  Death toll from the two strong earthquakes that struck NW Iran on August 11 has climbed to about 300, with more than 5,000 people injured.
  • The quakes affected about a 1,000 rural communities, destroying or severely damaging 150 villages.
  • Many of the mountains villages are hard to reach by road.
  • About 36,000 people were evacuated to emergency shelters, news media reported officials as saying.
  • About 70 aftershocks have struck the area, as of posting.

• Texas, USA.  Dallas County officials have declared a state of emergency due to rapid rise of West Nile virus infections.
  • Dallas County has reported 181 infections, which have resulted in at least nine deaths.
  • More than 431 human cases of West Nile virus have been reported in northern Texas with at least 12 fatalities attributed to the infections.

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar

Greece on Fire!

Athens Fires May Torch Marathon!

At least 100 forest blazes have started throughout Greece in less than a day torching the worst record set in 2007, officials said.

Up to 80 large forest fires torch Greece. The worst blazes are occurring in areas where homes are built among trees, reducing the forests, natural resistence to fire. Photo AP. Image may be subject to copyright.

Summary of events:

• Fires are spreading through northern suburb of  Athens, the Greek capital.
• The government has  declared a state of emergency in the area.
• The fires have spread as far north as the towns of Grammatiko and Varnavas, and are also threatening the town of Marathon.
• Thousands of hectares of forest, farmland  and olive groves have been blackened; many homes and structure have been destroyed.
• Gale-force winds are intensifying the blazes, which started late Friday, intensifying  overnight through Saturday
• Fire crews are trying to prevent the fires from reaching Pendeli, a famous suburb of the capital with spectacular view of Athens.
• “Much of Pendeli mountain was destroyed in 2007, and further erosion of the treeline would be an ecological disaster,” the BBC’s reporter in Athens said.
• The 2007 forest fires on mainland blackened 6% of Greece’s tree cover, killing 70 people.
  
• “The fires are further contributing to the deforestation of the mountains around Athens. Three of the four mountains surrounding the capital have already been stripped of their trees by fire,” BBC added.
• In July thousands of hectares of forest and farmland were incinerated across the Mediterranean in France, Greece, Italy and Spain, aided by heat waves and dry conditions.

Related Links:

• The Fire in Spain Stays Mainly in the Forest
• STOP Chocking Nature to YOUR Death!
• Greenhouse Gas Emissions – 2009 Report
• Magnitude 6.7 quake strikes south of Crete

• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• World cannot survive without a revolution

Alaska: One Fire Away From Exporting Charcoal

Images of Day:

Forest Fires Burn Massive Scars on Alaska’s Face

Background: Alaska on Fire AND First the Beetles Attacked!

Human activity is ultimately responsible for the intensity and frequency of most present-day forest fires like Alaska’s; to call them ‘wildfires,’ therefore, is disingenuous and unintelligent.

Burn Scars Near Confluence of Yukon and Tanana Rivers, Alaska
infrared-enhanced (visible, shortwave-IR, and near-IR)                           [acquired August 9, 2009]

natural-color                                                                                           [acquired August 9, 2009]

Cool, wet weather over the second weekend of August moderated fire activity in interior Alaska. When the skies cleared on August 9, 2009, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite captured these images. Fires that had been churning out thick clouds of smoke the previous week were quiet; according to the daily situation report from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center on August 11, 2009, however, the fires were still smoldering.

The top image is an infrared-enhanced view of the area at the confluence of the Tanana River with the Yukon, west of Fairbanks, made from a combination of visible, shortwave-infrared, and near-infrared light. Vegetation is bright green, water is dark blue (nearly black in marsh pools), and burned areas are brick red. The largest fire in the state, the Railbelt Complex, is partially hidden by clouds at image right. The lower image shows a natural-color (photo-like) view of the area. The muddy waters of the two rivers are light brown, and different kinds of vegetation, including spruce forests and muskeg, appear in shades of green. The burned areas are dark brown. NASA image courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team. Caption by Rebecca Lindsey.

Fires in Interior Alaska [acquired August 3, 2009]

Red flag warnings, cautioning residents that weather conditions were dangerously favorable for the rapid growth of wildfires, were in place for much of eastern Alaska on August 3, 2009, when the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this image. Places where the sensor detected actively burning fires are marked with red dots. Hundreds of thousands of acres were burning at the time of this image. The largest fire, the Railbelt Complex, had grown to more than 481,000 acres as of August 4, and the southern perimeter of the fire was active along a 12-mile front, according to the morning situation report from the Alaska Interagency Coordination Center.

The large image provided above is at MODIS’ maximum spatial resolution (level of detail). Twice-daily images of interior Alaska are available from the MODIS Rapid Response Team in additional resolutions and formats, including a false-color version that highlights the location of burn scars and georeferenced images that can be used in Google Earth.  NASA images courtesy the MODIS Rapid Response Team. All captions by Rebecca Lindsey.

Related Links:

• Alaska on Fire
• First the Beetles Attacked!

• Warmer temperatures destroy forests faster

• 3 million acres of spruce killed in Alaska in 15 years
• British Columbia Forests Plagued by Beetle
• Drunken Forest

• California ‘Mojavefied’ by 2011?

• Ice Melt in Alaska, Antarctica, Greenland Accelerating
• Canada’s Ice Shelves Lose Quarter of their Cover
• Arctic ice cover second-lowest on record

• Arctic Tundra 4ºC Hotter Since 1970
• US Impacts of Global Climate Change
• Earth’s scars of human destruction visible: astronaut

• Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) March 2008
• Marsification of Earth
• Earth’s Collapsing Life Support Systems

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Nuking Earth for Lifestyle
• Giga Trends
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• 286W

• The Root Cause Matrix
• The Economy
• Collapsing Ecosystems

• Index page for Alaska: Environmental issues, Big Oil, politics, CORRUPTION, Sarah Palin, even the moose, beluga whale and polar bear …

3 million acres of spruce killed in Alaska in 15 years

“Beetles take no prisoners, It’s a Mafia-style execution!”

~ Ed Berg, ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Alaska has experienced an average warming of 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 °F) and about 4.5 °C (8°F) in the inner regions in winter months since the 1960s, the largest regional warming of anywhere in the U.S., according to records.

The warmer temperature means Alaska’s peat bogs, which are nearly 14,000 years old, are drying up. Ed Berg, an ecologist for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, has discovered that shrubs and other plants have been rooting in areas of peat big normally too soggy for woody plants to grow during the last three decades.

Black Spruce taiga, Copper River, Alaska. (Credit: NOAA)

“We’ve got mounds of evidence that an extremely powerful and unprecedented climate-driven change is underway,” said a forest ecologist at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. “It’s not that this might happen, these changes are underway and there are more changes coming.”

In Alaska, 35 percent forest, global warming is causing irreversible changes including droughts, forest fires, and infestations of tree-killing insects like spruce beetles and spruce budworm moths. In the last 15 years, the spruce beetles, which thrive in warmer climates, have destroyed a total of about 3 million acres (1.21 million hectares) of spruce forest in south-central Alaska.

XXX
Adult female spruce bark beetle

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Western Spruce Budworm caterpillar, sixth (final) instar (stage of development). Spruce budworms and relatives are serious pests of conifers. (Credit: David G. Fellini and Jerald E. Dewey, Forest Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.

The Alaskan landscape is covered with dead spruce trees after a major outbreak of spruce bark bettles in the arctic region in this file image. REUTERS/handout

The Spruce Beetle in Alaska Forests. (Credit:The University of Alaska Fairbanks Cooperative Extension Service)

As the areas of beetle-infested forest grow, more land is clear-cut and land speculation frenzy grows.

Wetlands are a natural defense mechanism retarding forest fires. The warmer weather and drier forest therefore could lead to more forest fires.

Drying or burning peat bogs, which comprise 50-60 percent carbon, would release additional carbon dioxide, the principal greenhouse gas, to the atmosphere.

Related Links:

• The Spruce Beetle in Alaska Forests
• Terrible Ocean Headlines
• World CO2 Emissions
• Hilarious Polar Bear News!

• How Much CO2 Does Your Money Produce?

Related News Links:

• Warming climate threatens Alaska’s vast forests

UPDATE #2 – California Fires

California Inferno Rages On

Wildfires are an indispensable tool in Nature’s cycle-of-life toolbox. But … the fires must not be allowed to burn naturally!! Click Here!

What People Said:

• California is reaching a “tipping point.” We need federal help, including military resources, said the mighty Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who declared a state-wide drought in June amid two years of low rainfall.

• Humanoids’ ignorance of Nature’s defense mechanisms hasn’t improved in 12,000 years! Take the California’s wildfires, for example. Tackling the wildfires has become strictly a Freudian affair. ~ A Member of Creating A Sustainable Future (CASF).

A firefighter with the Lathrop-Manteca Fire District talks on his radio as a spot fire burns through trees and brush July 10, 2008 in Concow, California. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images) Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

• About 1,300 square miles (3,366 square kilometers), or 0.8 percent of the entire state, an area larger than Rhode Island, has been consumed in California since June 21, said Cal Fire. [The scorched land area is the largest in size in California’s wildfire history.]

• For first time in 30 years, California National Guard lends hand against wildfires, said abc News.

• “I am ordering 2,000 additional California National Guard personnel to boost our firefighting forces,” said Schwarzenegger.

• Burning embers – pinecones and bark chunks as big as baseballs – were thrown a quarter of a mile ahead of the primary wall of flames, creating spot fires. “You can’t see out a quarter mile,” Brown said. “When you find the new fire, it’s already a big fire.” Said SFGate

• “In my district, about 40 more homes were confirmed destroyed and there has been at least one death where a person refused to evacuate,” said Butte County Supervisor Bill Connelly.

• “[The California’s fires] are unprecedented in size and number … [State authorities] have essentially exhausted all of their internal resources; eighty percent of all the federal resources are committed to California right now.” Said Glenn Cannon, assistant administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

A mountain bike is one of the few items recognizable at a home in the Camelot subdivision in Concow, Calif. Chronicle photo by Paul Chinn. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

• The fires have killed two firefighters, injured 262, consumed 752,944 acres and have costs $325.7 million to fight. The fires threaten about 15,500 homes and structures across California, according to the state and federal fire reports.

• Some 19,704 firefighters and support personnel from 41 states are quenching 322 fires across California, according to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, Cal Fire.

• Mexican and Canadian crews are also helping the US firefighters, said Mark Rey, undersecretary of natural resources and the environment for the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

• The Butte blaze threatens 3,800 homes and structures, said Justin Scribner, a spokesman for Cal Fire. “We were trying to conduct a planned burning operation, with crews in place to hold the lines, but the winds picked up, and we weren’t able to stop it.”

• The Butte fire has scorched about 49,000 acres (19,600 hectares), 60 structures, and caused $40.5 million in damages, according to Cal Fire and the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

This image of the combined fires was captured by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite on July 10, 2008.

Carbon Dioxide Is a Fire Retardant (!)

• Homeland Security (!) Sec. Michael Chertoff held a conference call with Gov. Schwarzenegger, Sen. Feinstein, a staffer for Sen. Boxer, Interior Sec. Kempthorne and Agriculture Sec. Schafer to discuss California’s needs, said DHS spokeswoman. [She did not specify whether the conference was held in French or in English!]

• It has been decided that to create more CO2, which might help put out the fires, firefighters from Australia, Greece and New Zealand should come to the U.S. </dark humor>

• State officials are trying to get all the fires declared as major disasters, to enable increased access to federal funds, said California Lt. Gov. John Garamendi.

• Forest fires have broken out in nine states, including two in Washington yesterday, which destroyed [thirteen] homes [some were multimillion-dollar homes] in the Spokane Valley [Friday], said Don Smurthwaite, a spokesman for the National Interagency Fire Center in Boise, Idaho.

Numerous major wildfires continued burning Friday in Eastern Washington, prompting Gov. Chris Gregoire to declare a state of emergency for the entire state. That freed equipment, firefighters and funding for efforts to quench the flames.

Fire crews from across Washington were battling blazes in Chelan, Douglas, Stevens, Adams, Ferry, and Spokane counties. With hot and dry conditions statewide, Gregoire said the proclamation ensured any affected area would have sufficient firefighting resources. (Source)

• “It would do us no good to send everything to California and then see fires ignite in three or four other states,” Smurthwaite said.

• So far, about 3 million acres (1.2 million hectares), [an area roughly the size of Connecticut,] have burned in the U.S. this year, exceeding the 10-year average of 2.5 million [by 20 percent,] Smurthwaite said.

• “Hand crews and bulldozers were (in Concow) all night, posted at individual homes” trying to retard the flames, said Joshpae White, an engineer for the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.

• High temperatures and low humidity have hampered efforts by crews trying to contain another fire advance near Carmel Valley, north of Big Sur. said Susan Zornek, a U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman on loan from Missouri.

• Because this fire season started so early, the firefighting conditions have been among the worst in memory, even among longtime crews, said Terence McHale, policy director for CDF Firefighters of Cal Fire, the union representing the firefighters.

• “We have firefighters who’ve been working nonstop since mid-May, who haven’t seen their families or homes, who are working 24-hour shifts, 21 days on, sometimes putting in 36 hours in the initial attack of a fire,” said McHale said. “It’s an incredible challenge.”

• “You almost feel like somebody is out to get you,” said Nancy Henphill, 61, a Concow resident.

California Must Decide: Life or “Lifestyle?”

Related News Links:

• Calif. National Guard Joins Firefighting Effort
• California Wildfires Force 10,000 to Evacuate Homes
• Calif. Wildfire Forces More Evacuations

Related Links:

• UPDATE #1: California Fires
• Early Halloween

• Images of the Day: California Fires
• Lightning Safety Awareness Week: June 22-28

• A Few Extreme Events Away

• 2008: Year of the Fire
• Raging Wildfires: Mother Nature ensuring the cycle of life?

• Our Forecast for 2009 California Fires [Aug 14, 2008]

Image of the Day: Heat Wave in Northern Europe

On the calendar, Scandinavian summer starts on June 21 in 2008, but summer temperatures had already settled over much of northern Europe by early June. This image shows land surface temperatures—how hot the ground is to the touch, a measure that is different than the air temperatures reported in the news—as observed by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite between June 2 and June 8, 2008.

The image compares the average temperature between June 2 and June 8, 2008, to average temperatures recorded during the same period in June 2000 through 2007. Areas that were warmer than average are red, while cooler than average conditions are represented in blue.The heat that dominated the weather in northern Europe in early June is evident in the dark red that covers Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and parts of Germany and Poland. Southern Europe experienced cooler than average temperatures during the period.

The intense heat and dry weather led to dangerous fire conditions in Scandinavia. Both Norway and Sweden were plagued with several forest fires in early June. A fire that burned for several days in southern Norway was the largest in the country’s history, causing an estimated ten million dollars worth of damage, reported The Norway Post on June 17, 2008.

You can download a 9-kilometer-resolution KMZ file of global land surface temperature anomaly suitable for use with Google Earth.

• References
• Deutsche Presse-Agentur. (2008, June 13). Norway asks for help to tackle large forest blaze. Monsters and Critics. Accessed June 20, 2008.
• Solholm, R. (2008, June 17). State pays part of cost of forest fire. The Norway Post. Accessed June 20, 2008.

NASA image created by Jesse Allen, using data obtained from the Goddard Land Processes data archives. Caption by Holli Riebeek.