Forest Fire in East Nusa Tenggara during 2015-2019: Comparison to Forest Fire in Kalimantan and Sumatera

Abstract

East Nusa Tenggara is one of the provinces in Indonesia that has big forest fires following some provinces in Kalimantan and Sumatra. However, forest fires in East Nusa Tenggara have less attention in forest fires discussion in Indonesia. This study aims to analyze forest fires in East Nusa Tenggara and their impact on reducing visibility and increasing carbon monoxide (CO) from 2015 to 2019. In this study, hotspot, forest fire area, Oceanic Niño Index, visibility, and CO total column data were used to analyze the forest fires using a statistical comparison method in East Nusa Tenggara, Kalimantan, and Sumatra. The result shows that the number of hotspots in East Nusa Tenggara less than in Kalimantan and Sumatra for the same forest fire area. The forest fires in East Nusa Tenggara do not harm the atmospheric environment significantly. East Nusa Tenggara dominantly consists of savanna areas with no peatland, hence, the forest biomass burning produces less smoke and CO. Furthermore, the forest fire in East Nusa Tenggara has not an impact on decreasing visibility and increasing CO total column, in contrast, visibility in Sumatra and Kalimantan has fallen to 6 km from the annual average, and CO total column rise three times of normal condition during peak fire.