SOUTH AFRICA
This year, South African forests could face fires which will be twice as fierce as the usual ones, indicates a field experiment, which was supported by the National Aeronautical and Space Administration ( nasa ). During the experiment, thickness of the smoke plumes were measured, movements of large plumes were mapped and the affect of smoke and other fine particles on clouds was investigated. The data will be used to assess the impact of the fires on the global climate and on the region's air quality and ecosystems. The heavy rains in the first half of this year have spurred the growth of extra plant biomass, which will result in the fierce fires.
In Africa, fire is considered less of a disaster and more of a natural and necessary part of healthy ecosystem functioning. The region is subjected to some of the highest levels of biomass burning in the world, according to nasa researchers. The heaviest burning occurs in the moist subtropical belt that includes Angola, the southern Congo, Zambia, northern Mozambique, and southern Tanzania.
Related Content
- Funding a tuberculosis-free future: an investment case for screening and preventive treatment
- Costs of health care associated infections from inadequate water and sanitation in health care facilities in Eastern and Southern Africa
- Donkeys in global trade: wildlife crime, welfare, biosecurity and the impact on women
- The landscape of climate finance for agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa
- Comparative study of carbon rights in the context of jurisdictional REDD+: case studies from Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and Latin America and the Caribbean
- Leveraging technologies for gender equality in mining communities: case studies from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Africa, and Peru