26-Apr-2022: Forest Fires can be an important factor in reducing solar power production in India
A new study has found that forest fires which plague different parts of India, especially during the summer season play a major role in reducing solar power production in India. Such analysis of the energy and financial losses due to the direct and indirect effects of forest fires on the production of solar plants can help grid operators to plan and schedule power generation, as also the distribution, supply, security, and overall stability of power production.
Recently, solar energy generation has been widely used in developing countries such as India which has sufficient solar resources. However, several factors like clouds, aerosols, and pollution generated from various sources limit the solar irradiance causing performance issues in the photovoltaic and concentrated solar power plant installations. Large-scale development of a solar energy system requires proper planning, and there is a need to estimate the solar potential
Keeping this in mind, a group of researchers at the Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital an autonomous research institute of the Department of Science and Technology (DST) Govt. of India, and the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), Greece tried to trace the factors that reduce solar energy production. They found that apart from clouds and aerosols, forest fires play a very crucial role in reducing solar energy production.
The study published in the international peer-reviewed journal Remote Sensing shows that the aerosol optical depth values were up to 1.8 during the study period (January to April 2021), during which massive forest fire events led to attenuation of total solar radiation incident on a horizontal surface (global horizontal irradiance- GHI ) and solar radiation received from the sun without having been scattered (beam horizontal irradiance --BHI) by 0 to 45%. During this period the air masses were renewed quickly mitigating the smoke contribution to the total aerosol loads and were dominated by continental pollution.
The scientists used remote sensing data for the research and studied the impact of aerosols and clouds on the solar energy potential over the Indian region with extensive analysis and model simulations. They also provided an analytical financial analysis in terms of revenue and losses due to clouds and aerosols.
The research was led by Dr. Umesh Chandra Dumka, Scientist, ARIES, with contributions by Prof. Panagiotis G Kosmopoulos, Scientist, NOA, and Dr. Piyush Kumar N. Patel, Scientist, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, USA, and provided a comprehensive investigation of the impact of aerosols and clouds on solar energy production over the region.
The findings of the present study will drastically increase the awareness among decision-makers about the effect of forest fires on energy management and planning at a country level. In addition, this research can support the mitigation processes and policies for climate change and its direct and indirect impacts on sustainable development.
2-Apr-2019: Forest fires threatening Odisha’s flora and fauna
Odisha had registered a sudden jump in forest fires across the State resulting in massive damage to flora and fauna. As many as 5,332 fire spots had been noticed since November 1, the beginning of forest fire season, in the State. The month of March had alone registered 4,495 fire spots.
As per statistics generated by SNPP (Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership) satellite, only 385 fire spots were recorded in February while in January, only 55 fire incidences were detected.
Southern Odisha looked red in the map provided by Forest Fire Geo Portal of Forest Survey. In Koraput, the southernmost forest circle in Odisha, 2,809 fire spots had been detected since November. It was followed by Bhawanipatna with 622 fire incidences and Berhampur (601). Rourkela and Sambalpur division had relatively lower incidences with 416 and 355 fire spots detected during the same period.
The month of April started with 11 fires on Monday as detected by Moderate resolution Imaging Spectro-radiometer (MODIS) with a resolution of 1 km.
Forest divisions mapped: Though forest department claimed to have mapped the forest divisions prone to fire and maintained more than 6,000-km long fire line in different forests ahead of the fire season, forests continue to be gutted. Given the vastness of forest areas and gigantic task, number of fire watchers engaged in fire-fighting appears to be too little.
Apart from causing a huge loss to the timber and other fruit and leaf bearing trees and creepers of the forest, fires also destroy wildlife and their habitat. Nests and eggs of ground dwelling birds are lost. Reptiles also lose their young ones due to forest fires.
Fire could only be tamed at the initial stage before it becomes a conflagration preventing anybody from even approaching it due to the intense heat generated.
2-Mar-2019: Frequent forest fires at the Bandipur reserve
A five-day fire that raged through the Bandipur Tiger Reserve has reportedly burnt more than 15,400 acres of forests. Between February 21 and 25, the reserve saw 127 fire counts in various ranges of the 912 sq km forest.
While fires are not uncommon at Bandipur, what has surprised officials is their intensity and frequency. The worry now is the long-term damage to the ecosystem, which is a part of the Nilgiri Biosphere that hosts the world’s largest tiger population, at more than 575 (2014 census).
The 2018 monsoon was particularly strong, but the year-end northeast monsoon has failed. If the monsoon led to dense growth, the blistering heat since September has turned vegetation brittle and dry, with vast swathes becoming tinderboxes. As with most forest fires, it is assumed that Bandipur’s ignition was man-made.
The suspicion stems out of a growing animosity between the Department and forest-dwellers who accuse officials of harassment through the wildlife rules. Any investigation into the fires is unlikely to pinpoint a cause or culprits. Strong gusts ensured that the fires spread quickly. Compounding matters is the ubiquity of lantana camara, an invasive weed species native to South America, that has spread through nearly two-thirds of the forest area.
Over 400 fire watchers were placed, but questions have arisen whether the precautions were enough, especially since Bandipur has had frequent fires.
Bandipur is a dry deciduous forest in the rain shadow region of the Western Ghats, and is no stranger to fires. Periods of drought invariably lead to fires. In 2017, a forest guard was killed while attempting to douse a fire in the region.
A study has shown that between 1974 and 2014, 67% of the Nilgiri Biosphere had seen some form of forest fire, with Bandipur having reported the most incidents. However, the number of forest fires had considerably come down over the decades as the Forest Department attempted to pre-empt them through fire control lines and fire watchers.
The country’s forest policy encourages a zero forest fire approach for its protected landscapes — whether it is Bandipur or the rainforests of the upper Western Ghats. Scientific literature have shown this blanket approach may be doing harm to dry, deciduous forests where trees have evolved to co-exist with fire. Scientists have noted in a recent study that the trees in this landscape were closer to those in a savanna than in rainforests 100 km away. Trees have dramatically thicker barks, implying that they had evolved to be fire-resistant.
When fires are relatively frequent, adult tree mortality in these systems is very low. Many saplings sprout shortly after the fire from underground reserves, and the system returns to its original state in a few years. Conversely, when fires are suppressed — including by curbing the tribal practices of controlled fire burning — a greater biomass builds up that can lead to high intensity fires which affect the ecosystem negatively. Moreover, there might be a correlation between fire suppression and growth of lantana camara, which has replaced the grassy undergrowth in many areas.