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SPOT Satellite Images of Fires and Smoke Haze
at Plantations near Pekanbaru, Sumatra

The following sequence of SPOT images shows
how fires are used to clear the plantations.
Image on the right is the location
map of the area. The size of
the area is about 36km x 28km.

The images were acquired and processed by
Centre for Remote Imaging, Sensing and Processing (CRISP),
National University of Singapore.
Copyright of images belongs to CNES.

(Click satellite image for enlarged version)

	16 JUN 1999 This image shows an area largely developed into plantations located near the town of Pekanbaru, Sumatra. Some areas of the image are covered by white cumulous clouds. Plantations with burnt scars are found along the river cutting the area diagonally in the image. The weather may be a little wet.
	22 July 1999 The same area was imaged again about one month later. The absence of cloud in the image suggests that the weather is dry. Smoke plumes are clearly visible in several plantations. The dry weather clearly provides the opportunity for land clearing by fires. In the plantation located at the lower left corner of image, forest is being cleared by fires for the expansion of the plantation.
	23 July 1999 Clearing of the land continues for the second day. This time, fires have become more intense and the smoke haze has started to cover the northern part of the area.
	27 July 1999 Fires have stopped burning in the plantation at the lower left of the image. There are still some small fires burning in the plantation located at the centre of the image.
	28 July 1999 Fires continue to burn in the two big plantations situated at the upper right quadrant of the image. The area appears to be very hazy due to thin smoke spreading all over the area.