[Asia] Fires and Smoke near Yakutsk, Russia , 2001/07/19, 20

In the Sakha region of Siberia, at the eastern edge of the Central Siberian Plateau, numerous fires were burning near the city of Yakutsk, along the bank of the Lena River.

During the summer in the boreal forests of Russia, fires are generally ignited by lightning striking the surface (more details can be found in Evolving in the Presence of Fire).

2001/200 - 07/19 at 02 :40 UTC

It is worth noting how the smoke plumes are thicker in the afternnon scene.

2001/200 - 07/19 at 02:40 (up) & 04 :15 (down) UTC

2001/201 - 07/20 at 03 :20 UTC

2001/201 - 07/20 at 03 :20 UTC

[Asia] Haze from China, 2001/07/12

2001/193 - 07/12 at 02 :40 UTC

Haze is a generic term for visible air pollution, and can consist of dust, smoke, and other particulate matter. As China has grown as an economic power, air pollutants from industry and automobiles (mostly coal-fired or sulfur contained fuel) have increased dramatically. This has lead directly to increases in sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, soot, and other atmospheric pollutants. Haze plume over eastern China~the Gulf of Bohai (the center of the image with the port city of Tianjin nearits western shore) is clearly seen in this image. East-West haze plume obscures the coastline of Eastern China. Beijing (China´s capital and second largest city) is located in the upper left portion of the image.

[Asia] Fires in Sumatra, Indonesia, 2001/07/09

Terra/MODIS 2001/190 - 07/09 at 03 :59 UTC

Forest fires in July are famous guest on the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
This MODIS image shows that the number of fires and emitting smokes.

SPOT 1 Image 9 July 2001

Excerpts: "The fires producing most of the smoke haze are in coastal peat swamp east of the River Barumun. The forest in this area, some 120 000 ha, has been unsustainably logged for many years and is now in the process of being cleared, using fire, for conversion to estate crops. These relatively minor haze events last from one to three weeks during a dry spell and come to an end with the onset of rain."

[S.America] Fires and Smoke over Brazil, 2001/06/12

2001/163 - 06/12 at 14 :15 UTC

Several fires in Mato Grosso State, Brazil are found. Fires emit smoke plume.
Green area is, in general, healthy vegetated area but light green land covers are deforested area.

[Asia] Fires and Haze in China, 2001/06/06

Lots of fires in China (red dots) are shown in this earlist Terra/MODIS imagery of aerosols over China.


2001/157 - 06/06 at 03 :05 UTC

[Asia] Dust storm in Southern Afghanistan, 2001/06/02, 11, 13

Afganistan is one of severe dust strom origins.


2001/153 - 06/02 at 06 :50 UTC




2001/162 - 06/11 at 06 :45 UTC


A Dust StormEngulfs Kandahar on May 13 , 2001

Sensitivity of Climate to Solar variability

According to the data analysis by Scafetta and West (Physics Today), 'the Sun could account for as much as 69% of the increase in Earth's average temperature'. This article is based on Scafetta and West's previously published peer reviewed papers. It is well-known senario that green house gases are major reason of global warming after industrial revolution. The new view by Scafetta and West gives another possibility (or fact) of global warming.

Excerpts:
"We contend that the changes in Earth’s average surface temperature are directly linked to two distinctly different aspects of the Sun’s dynamics: the short-term statistical fluctuations in the Sun’s irradiance and the longer-term solar cycles."

"The IPCC report concludesthat the contribution of solarvariability to global warming is negligible,to a certainty of 95%. It is reportedthat the “majority” believes the averagewarming observed since the beginningof the industrial era is due to the increasein anthropogenic greenhouse gasconcentrations in the atmosphere."


[after IPCC 4th report]

"The nonequilibrium thermodynamic models we used suggest that the Sun is influencing climate significantly more than the IPCC report claims."


[image from Scafetta and West, 2008]