Chapter 25

Peat Fire Occurrence

Hiroshi Hayasaka, Hidenori Takahashi, Suwido H. Limin, Nina Yulianti,

and Aswin Usup

Abstract In this chapter, various peat combustion properties, temporal and spatial
peat fire occurrence in Kalimantan, and the peat fire index (PFI) for the early
warning of peat fire were discussed. Firstly, tropical peat was sampled from Mega
Rice Project (MRP) area in Central Kalimantan and analyzed in the laboratory. The
flash point, ignition temperature and calorific value of tropical peat were measured
by using a thermogravimetry and differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA) and a
bomb calorimeter. The ignition probability of tropical peat was estimated by using
literature values. In fields of the study area, peat ignition test, surface temperature
measurement of actual burning peat and peat fire propagation measurement were
carried out to identify actual peat fire conditions. Secondly, recent seasonal and
special fire occurrence trends in Kalimantan were discussed using analysis results
of MODIS hotspots data (fires) and precipitation data (the 10 years data, from 2002
to 2011). The two provinces of Central and West Kalimantan have the different
severe fire periods. The fire season in West Kalimantan started in early August
and lasted until early September. On the other hand, the fire season in Central
Kalimantan started in middle August and continued until early November. Finally,
peat fire index (PFI) derived from monthly and daily rainfall data was proposed to
estimate peat fire conditions. The PFI has a linear relationship to the annual lowest
groundwater level in peatland with the coefficient of determination R2 D 0.84, and
to the total number of hotspots observed by MODIS during the dry season from June
to November in Central Kalimantan with R2 D 0.74. The PFI was found to be useful
for the early warning of peat fire in tropical peatlands. The depth of combustible peat
layer increased linearly with lowering of groundwater level in tropical peatlands.

H. Hayasaka ()
Graduate School of Engineering, Hokkaido University, N13 W8, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido
060-8628, Japan
e-mail: hhaya@eng.hokudai.ac.jp
H. Takahashi
Hokkaido Institute of Hydro-climate, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0809, Japan
e-mail: nana77hihc@ybb.ne.jp
S.H. Limin • N. Yulianti • A. Usup
University of Palangka Raya, Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan 73111, Indonesia
e-mail: cimtrop_suwido@yahoo.com; ninayulianti.unpar@gmail.com; gnmas@yahoo.com

© Springer Japan 2016 377

M. Osaki, N. Tsuji (eds.), Tropical Peatland Ecosystems,
DOI 10.1007/978-4-431-55681-7_25
378 H. Hayasaka et al.

Keywords Peat fire • Dry season • El Niño • MODIS hotspot • Groundwater

level • Ignition

25.1 Introduction

Tropical peatlands are important natural resource and have considerable effects on
regional and global environments. Wetlands, including peatlands, provide a wide
range of products and services that are important for direct and indirect human uses,
the welfare of wildlife, and the maintenance of environmental quality (Maltby and
Immirzi 1993). Tropical peatlands are one of the largest near-surface reserves of
terrestrial organic carbon, and their stability therefore has important implication for
climate change (Kayama et al. 2000; Page et al. 2002). They also play a significant
role in supporting biodiversity, with a unique combination of habitats and endemic
and endangered species. In both these regards, tropical peatlands, most of which
are located in the Southeast Asian coastal lowlands, are particularly important
(Page et al. 2012). However, the stability of tropical peatlands has been threatened
since the early 1980s by human activities, such as converting forest to farmland,
constructing transmigration settlements, excessive draining, and logging.
Page et al. (2002) estimated that between 0.81 and 2.57 Gt of carbon were
released to the atmosphere in 1997 as a result of burning and vegetation in Indonesia.
Putra et al. (2008) suggested that the land area of the Mega Rice Project, MRP,
(14,571 km2 ) in Central Kalimantan occupies only 0.77 % of whole land area
of Indonesia (1,890,754 km2 ), but CO2 emission from fires in the MRP area are
estimated to be responsible for 12.4 % (0.32 Gt) and 11.6 % (0.22 Gt) of Indonesian
CO2 emission in 1997 and 2006, respectively. Another more suggestion by them was
the effect of the anomalies of the sea surface temperature, SST, in the equatorial area
of the Pacific Ocean on the peat/forest fire in Central Kalimantan.
The El Nino event in 1997/1998 was the largest one since 1946 and the drought
in Kalimantan was also estimated to be the most serious one in twentieth century
(Takahashi et al. 2001). The transportations in Southeast Asia were seriously dam-
aged by the low visibility with dense haze emitted peat/forest fires. The most tragic
accident occurred on the flight arriving to Medan in Sumatra on 26 September, 1997.
The aircraft collided into a mountain near the airport according to too low visibility
for flight and 234 people on board were killed. In several cities, including Jambi,
Pontiank and Banjarmasin, visibility at times declined to 20 m (Potter 1997). The
peat/forest fires have large impacts on tropical forest ecosystems not only by being
burned but also by reducing solar radiation and photosynthetic photon flux density
(PFD) with dense haze caused by fires (Tang et al. 1996; Takahashi et al. 1999).
To make clear the characteristics of peat fire in tropical peatland of Central
Kalimantan, the laboratory and field experiments were carried out (Takahashi et al.
2003; Usup et al. 2004). The seasonal and regional characteristics of peat fire
occurrence in Kalimantan were also analyzed by using MODIS. The Peat Fire Index,
PFI, was proposed and the effectiveness of the index was confirmed. The results of
the experiments and analysis are shown in this paper.
25 Peat Fire Occurrence 379

25.2 Peat Fire Conditions

25.2.1 Study Area

To understand details of the combustion properties of tropical peat is very important

for firefighting and also for fire forecasts. Due to lack of data on tropical peat, field
studies and laboratory analyses were carried out. As shown in Fig. 25.1, the field
study plots were located in a secondary peatland forest along the Trans Kalimantan
Highway between Palangkaraya and Pulang Pisau and in a secondary peatland forest
near the University of Palangkaraya Climatology Station, in Central Kalimantan-
Indonesia. The peatland is a mixed farmland and wasteland in the fluvial plain of
the Kahayan and Sebangau Rivers.
Nine field study plots along the highway shown in Fig. 25.1 were selected for
field observations of wildfires in peatland during the dry seasons in 2002 and 2004.
The university plot was used for various purposes such as peat ignition tests. The
wildfires in each plot arose independently. The distances between plots ranged
from about 1 to 30 km. The depths of the peat layer at the nine plots were about
1–3 m (RePPProT 1990). The principal types of vegetation in the study plots
were cinnamon ferns (Osmunda cinnamomea, pakis), vegetable ferns (Stenochlaena
palustris, kalakai), and bracken ferns (Pteridium, Gleditsch, hawuk) with heights

Fig. 25.1 Geographical map of the study area and location of the field study plots along the Trans
Kalimantan Highway, between Palangkaraya and Pulang Pisau
380 H. Hayasaka et al.

ranging from 1 to 3 m. The poor tree vegetation in the study plots was caused
by commercial logging, road clear-cutting, conversion of forests to farmlands, and
settlements since the 1980s, as well as by frequent fires. Because of the poor tree
vegetation, the study sites were subject to intense solar heat and strong winds.

25.2.2 Fundamental Combustion Properties of Tropical Peat

Ignition Temperatures Peat samples were taken from peat layers at depths of
0–20 cm, 20–40 cm, and 40–60 cm in a secondary peat swamp forest near the Uni-
versity of Palangkaraya Climatology Station. Each peat sample was separated into
fine and coarse peat components using a 2-mm-mesh sieve. Ignition temperatures
were determined in the laboratory using a Thermo-gravimetry Differential Thermal
Analysis, TG-DTA Seiko A 6300. The heating rate used was 10 ı C min1 from
ambient temperature to 500 ı C. The samples used in this analysis were only 0.20–
0.35 g each, because the heating rate of a sample cannot be kept constant if the mass
of the sample is too large.
Figure 25.2 shows the pyrolysis processes of peat samples obtained from a depth
of 40 to 60 cm from the secondary peat swamp forest as measured by the TG-DTA in
the laboratory. Pyrolysis is defined as the chemical breakdown of solid fuel under the
influence of heat and usually in an oxygen-deficient environment (Miyanishi 2000).
In this section, approximate flash and ignition point temperatures were defined as

Fig. 25.2 TG-DTA curves of the peat sampled at 40–60 cm in depth from the secondary peat
swamp forest of Central Kalimantan
25 Peat Fire Occurrence 381

Fig. 25.3 Ignition probability as a function of moisture content (Babrauskas 2003)

the point of transition from endothermic to exothermic processes (Frandsen 1997)

for the flash point (275 ı C) and rapid transition point both in TG and DTA for
ignition point (368 ı C), respectively. Other ignition temperatures of various peat
samples varied from 256 to 277 ı C (Usup et al. 2004).
Ignition Probability and Other Peat Properties The ignition probability of trop-
ical peat is one of the important combustion properties of peat, however it was not
possible to locate a suitable report on tropical peat ignition. The ignition handbook
(Babrauskas 2003) gives basic knowledge of peat ignition, and a very important
property of peat among various parameters is ignition probability. Figure 25.3 from
the above handbook clearly shows that ignition probability varies with moisture
content, and shows ignition probabilities of a few organic soil types (peat materials)
as possibly very high at around 100 % gravimetric moisture contents. This implies
there is a so-called threshold value in ignition of peat, and this ignition property
could explain the severe peat fire occurrence in dry seasons.
Calorific value is an important combustion property of peat. Calorific values of
various peat samples in pristine and secondary peat forests, and agriculture (bare)
land peat measured by a bomb calorimeter (model C7000) varied from 18.34 to
23.89 kJ/g (Usup et al. 2004). These values were very similar to the values of 10–
20 kJ/g for the lowest rank of coal, Lignite.
382 H. Hayasaka et al.

Fig. 25.4 Temperatures of peat at 5 cm depth and at the surface during a peat ignition test

25.2.3 Field Tests and Results of Observations

Peat Ignition Tests in the Field at the University Plot Chromel-alumel thermo-
couples 0.5 mm in diameter with a stainless steel sheath and a six-channel data
logger (KADEC-US, KONA System Co. Ltd, Japan) were used to measure fire
temperatures in the field above and below the ground surface. Thermocouple sensors
were set at peat depths of 0 (surface) and 5 cm near igniter made by small wood
chips.
Peat ignition tests were carried out in the field at the University plot. Considerable
amounts of wood chips were prepared to ignite the peat in the field. The reason for
using wood chips as an igniter came from preliminary experimental results in the
field, where actual peat in the field was very hard to ignite. Experimental results are
shown in Fig. 25.4. From this figure, peat ignition started at around 20 min after the
fire experiment started and the peat temperature measured at 5 cm from the surface
was at around 300 ı C. This temperature almost coincided with the 275 ı C of the
flash point temperature of peat in Fig. 25.2. We must note that the peat temperature
at 5 cm depth stayed at around 300 ı C even after the wood chip fire became weak.
In other words, once peat was ignited, peat fire could last long under the ground.
Surface Temperature Measurements in Actual Peat Fire in the Field Measure-
ments using a thermal video system (Avio Neo Thermal TVS 600) were carried
out in Plot 8 on 15 September 2004. The surface temperature distribution captured
by the thermal video is shown in Fig. 25.5. Infrared sensors installed on the
thermal video could measure only solid (peat) temperatures and could not measure
the temperature of smoke and volatile matter from the peat. As we set average
emissivity on the thermal video to 0.9, the expression of “apparent” temperature is
used here. From the apparent temperature distribution of the actual peat surface (fire
front in a peat fire hole), most of the peat surface temperatures were around 400 ı C
25 Peat Fire Occurrence 383

Fig. 25.5 Apparent surface temperature distribution measured at an actual fire in plot 8

Fig. 25.6 Horizontal and vertical propagation of a peat fire measured at plot 3 on August 10, 2002

(red in the temperature scale in Fig. 25.5). This temperature level corresponds to the
pyrolysis temperature of peat solid in Fig. 25.2.
Peat Fire Propagation Peat fire spreading rates in peat soil were measured in three
quadrates (each 3 m by 3 m) in study plots 3, 5, and 7. The quadrates were set up
leeward to the fire front against the prevailing wind of these areas. Iron rods of 75 cm
long and 6 mm in diameter were placed at 50 cm intervals in each quadrate for the
fire observations. A typical fire front measurement is shown in Fig. 25.6. Since the
fire movement depends on both wind direction and peat properties, the fire fronts
form complex shapes. The distance between an initial point and several points on the
fire front were measured at 1-day intervals. In this paper, the mean value of several
measured distances is defined as the speed of peat fire spreading. The distance of
the fire front movement was measured using an iron ruler and observed once a day
during the fire season in 2002.
384 H. Hayasaka et al.

Table 25.1 Speed of fire spread in tropical peatlands, with standard deviation (SD) and Number
of samples (N)
Peat fire type Min. (cm h1 ) Avg. (cm h1 ) Max. (cm h1 ) SD (cm h1 ) N
Surface peat fire (020 cm) 1.73 3.83 6.49 1.41 20
Deep peat fire (2050 cm) 0.50 1.29 2.50 0.64 20

Measurements at overhanging areas were carefully done using an iron stick and
ruler. Surface peat fires move quickly in zigzag directions of several fire fronts
searching for favorable conditions to burn into the deeper peat layers. The width
of the fire front is about 10–50 cm (Fig. 25.6). Surface peat fires ignite deep peat
fires and serve as kindling charcoal for subsequent fires.
Table 25.1 shows the spreading rates of fire fronts measured at depths of 0–20 cm
and 20–50 cm at study plots 3, 5, and 7. The average speed of the surface peat fire
(at a depth of 0–20 cm) was 3.83 cm h1 , or about 92 cm day1 . The maximum
speed of a surface peat fire was 6.49 cm h1 , or 155 cm day1 , and the minimum
was 1.73 cm h1 , or 42 cm day1 . The average speed of fire spreading in deep peat
(at a depth of 20–50 cm) was 1.29 cm h1 , or about 29 cm day1 . The maximum
speed of deep peat fires was 2.50 cm h1 , or 60 cm day1 and the minimum was
0.50 cm h1 , or 12 cm day1 . The speed of spreading of deep peat fires was half to
one third that of the surface peat fires.
The above measured speeds of fire spreading in tropical peatland are not greatly
different from those reported for different types of peat and in different regions. In a
Russian peat fire, the speed of fire in stockpiled peat was reported to be 0.5–10 cm
h1 (Cristjakov et al. 1983). The speed of fire in Australian peat was reported to be
4.2 cm h1 , and that in Canadian peat, is 3–12 cm h1 (Wein 1983). Unfortunately,
these reported speeds do not include depth measurements. The speed of fire spread
has been shown to have a linear relationship with wind speed (Fernandes 2001), but
the relationships between the speed of fire spreading in a tropical peatland and soil
moisture and wind speed are still not clear.

25.3 Recent Peat Fires in Kalimantan

25.3.1 Fire-Prone Areas and Peatland

Analysis of the most recent 10-year period (2002–2011) of MODIS hotspots

data (fires) and precipitation in Palangkaraya and Pontianak was carried out to
identify seasonal and spatial fire occurrence in Kalimantan by applying an every
10-day analysis. This new 10-day analysis approach clearly showed seasonal fire
occurrence and explained fire occurrence by using precipitation patterns of each
place.
25 Peat Fire Occurrence 385

Fig. 25.7 Fire-prone areas, peatland, and local regions in Kalimantan

Four province borders in Kalimantan and one country border with Malaysia,
defined by the side of a 0.5ı grid cell are shown by dotted lines in Fig. 25.7 for
convenience. The total number of cells in the four provinces was 225, comprising
64 for West, 66 for Central, 82 for East, and 16 for South Kalimantan. To identify fire
prone areas and to discuss fire activity in Kalimantan in detail, we defined five local
regions inside three provinces, excluding East Kalimantan. They were “MRPC”
(17 cells including 6 cells from South Kalimantan, the “C” stands for additional “6
cells”) in Central and South Kalimantan, “Sampit” (29 cells) in Central Kalimantan,
“North West Kalimantan” (a subset of West Kalimantan, North W.K. for short here
after) (24 cells), “South West Kalimantan” (South W.K.) (12 cells), and “Interior
West Kalimantan” (Interior W.K.) (26 cells), as shown in Fig. 25.7.
Fire-prone areas (>100 hotspots/(year cell) D 0.033 hotspots/(year km2 )) in the
recent 10-year period are highlighted by colors in Fig. 25.7. Many are located in the
above-mentioned five local regions or coastal peatland areas. Among them, 12 cells
showed a very high hotspot density (>400 hotspots/(year cell)). They were named
H1, H2, H3, etc. in descending order of hotspot density.
The seven highest hotspot density cells of H1, H2, H3, H4, H5, H8, and H9, were
located in the MRPC area and covered most of the MRP area. Another two cells (H7
and H12) were in the Sampit area (north and east side of Sampit). The rest of the
386 H. Hayasaka et al.

Fig. 25.8 Daily mean precipitation patterns in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan

cells (H6, H10 and H11) were in West Kalimantan, with H6 and H10 in South W.K.
and H11 in North W.K. From these distributions, we are able to conclude that most
fires in Kalimantan are peatland fires because the top ten highest hotspot density
cells (H1H10) are located in the south coastal peatland areas.

25.3.2 Dry Season in Palangkaraya and Pontianak

In total, 36 accumulated precipitation data points for each year, one for every 10-
day interval, were made to identify dry seasons in this paper. Each precipitation data
point was placed at its representative point such as 5, 15, 25, : : : (values stand for
day number (DN) for short, here after)) as shown in Figs. 25.8 and 25.9.
In Fig. 25.8, the daily mean precipitations of two different periods are plotted
with thick and thin solid lines. The thick line with a solid round mark shows the
seasonal change of the daily mean precipitation in the recent years from 2002
to 2011. Daily mean precipitation for the recent 10-year interval from 2002 to
2011 was 7.88 mm/day. The thin line shows the seasonal variation of daily mean
precipitation for the 34-year period from 1978 to 2011. The 34-year daily mean
precipitation is 7.98 mm/day. The dotted curve in Fig. 25.8 is a simple smoothed
curve for the daily mean precipitation from the 34-year data, and was used to define
the dry season.
In this paper, a daily mean precipitation of 5 mm/day was provisionally used
as a threshold value to define the dry season in Palangkaraya. With this threshold
value, the dry season period in Palangkaraya was defined as the 3-months from early
25 Peat Fire Occurrence 387

Fig. 25.9 Daily mean precipitation patterns in Pontianak, West Kalimantan

July to late September, as shown in Fig. 25.8. This period coincided with the period
with the lowest groundwater level (Putra and Hayasaka 2011). However, there was
about a one and a half month time lag between the lowest value of precipitation at
DN D 230 and the lowest groundwater level at DN D 275. The recent fire activity
tended to show a fire peak at around DN D 275 (Putra and Hayasaka 2011). The
very low daily mean precipitation (1.52 mm/day) in late September was the lowest
daily mean precipitation of the last 34-years.
In Fig. 25.9, the daily mean precipitation in Pontianak from 2001 to 2010
(except 2003 due to data missing) are shown with a thick line with solid diamond
shaped symbols. The dotted thin line is a simple smoothed curve for daily mean
precipitation. Daily mean precipitation in Pontianak was 7.85 mm/day. This value is
almost the same amount as that in Palangkaraya, but Pontianak showed a different
precipitation pattern from the pattern of Palangkaraya (Fig. 25.9). Pontianak had two
dry periods (using the same definition as in Palangkaraya, daily mean <5 mm/day);
one was from early February to late March, and the other was from early August
to mid August. This precipitation pattern or a two dry season pattern is also a
typical precipitation pattern in Indonesia, found in northern Sumatra (Aldrian and
Susanto 2003). In Pontianak, the winter dry season is relatively longer but wet for
two periods in mid February (7 mm/day) and mid March (6 mm/day). Due to this
higher precipitation tendency, fires were not so active in the winter dry season.
The summer dry season period in Pontianak was only 2/3 month and was shorter
than the 3 months in Palangkaraya. However, Pontianak also had a very dry period
(1/3 month with 2 mm/day) in early August.
388 H. Hayasaka et al.

Fig. 25.10 Average annual fire occurrences in Kalimantan

25.3.3 Recent Seasonal (Every 10-Day Period) Fire

Occurrence

A previous study by Yulianti et al. (2012) has shown that fires in Kalimantan were
most common in August, September, and October. About 85.5 % of the annual
hotspots were observed during these 3 months. To understand the seasonal fire
occurrence tendency in detail for various areas in Kalimantan, the same method
of analysis using 10-day periods as in the previous section on the “Dry season” was
also applied here.
From Fig. 25.10, the fire season in each of the four provinces in Kalimantan
can also be identified more clearly. We can say that a severe fire season (severe
fire: >1,000 hotspots/(year 10-day)) in the whole of Kalimantan starts in early
August and lasts until early November. The fire peak in late August for the whole
of Kalimantan occurs because of the contribution of fires in West and Central
Kalimantan.
The two provinces of Central and West Kalimantan show different severe fire
periods. The fire season in West Kalimantan started in early August and lasted
until early September (>500 hotspots/(year 10-day)). There was a fire peak in
mid to late August (about 1,360 hotspots/(year 10-day)). The fire season in West
Kalimantan almost coincided with the dry season in August in Pontianak (see
Fig. 25.9). Relatively, high fire occurrence (220–450 hotspots/(year 10-day)) from
mid September to mid October mainly occurred in the south region of West
Kalimantan.
Fires were most severe in Central Kalimantan. The fire season in Central
Kalimantan starts in mid August and lasts until early November. A severe fire
plateau (>1,300 hotspots/(year 10-day)) formed in late August and lasted until mid
25 Peat Fire Occurrence 389

October. The fire season did not coincide with the dry season from July to September
in Palangkaraya (see Fig. 25.8). The fire season starts from July, 1-month later than
the onset of the dry season. The reason for the 1-month time lag could be explained
by the groundwater level, as previously explained by our research group Putra and
Hayasaka (2011).

25.3.4 Fire Propagation from West to South Kalimantan

In Fig. 25.11, three typical fire occurrence distributions in El Niño years are shown.
Pre-dry and early dry season fires in late July are plotted with dots in Fig. 25.11a.
From Fig. 25.11a, it is clear that most fires are located on coastal peatland areas in
West Kalimantan (W.K), the inland peatland area in Interior W.K., and in the MRPC
(Mega Rice Project Area with surrounding areas).

Fig. 25.11 Three typical fire occurrence distributions in Kalimantan. (a) Typical pre-dry season
(caution) fire distribution in late July (2009), (b) Typical West Kalimantan fire distribution in early
August (2009), (c) Typical severe fire distribution in mid October (2006)
390 H. Hayasaka et al.

The dry season fires for West Kalimantan (including North, Interior, and South
W.K.) occurred early in August (DN D 210–219) in 2009. The total number of
hotspots in early August was 3,094 and they were distributed like in Fig. 25.11b.
In Fig. 25.11b, there is a high density of fires on coastal and interior peatlands, and
in mountain areas (deforestation fires) along the border to Malaysia. Fires in MRPC
already became active from early August.
In 2006, seasonal fire peaks appeared in mid October during the long drought
from early July. The Sampit area suffered from the severest fires (total number of
hotspots exceeded more than 17,000) in the most recent 10-years (20022011).
The total number of hotspots in mid October was 4,178 (418 hotspots/day) and the
distribution is shown in Fig. 25.11c. From Fig. 25.11c, it is clear that most fires were
distributed along the coastal peatland in southern Kalimantan. These severe fires
on peatland in Central Kalimantan during the end of the dry season could become
very active due to the very low level of groundwater (Putra and Hayasaka 2011).
In 2006, drought conditions lasted for more than 4 months from mid July to early
November. Under these long-lasting dry conditions, peat fires could continue by
smoldering under the ground or in the peat layer, with the result that peat fires cannot
be suppressed (Usup et al. 2004). The 2006 fires were a good example because they
showed that peat fires could remain active until heavy rain comes or even until
November. From the above mentioned seasonal and special fire occurrences found
in Kalimantan, a new smart fire forecast and fire-fighting way will be proposed.

25.4 Water in Peat and Peat Fires in Tropical Peatland

25.4.1 Methods

Data Used for Calculation of Peat Fire Index (PFI) Monthly total rainfall data
for the 18 years from 1993 to 2010 at Palangka Raya Meteorological Observatory,
Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics, was used to
calculate a monthly peat fire index. The groundwater level in a forest was measured
at the site, named Plot-1b, in the marginal peat swamp forest in the Sebangau Natural
Laboratory, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia (Takahashi, Yonetani 1997; Takahashi
et al. 1998).
Basic Equation for PFI A one-dimensional water balance equation was used to
calculate the peat fire index (PFI). The components of water balance in the peat are
rainfall and evapotranspiration. In this equation, the seepage from the hydrologic
system was neglected, because this index has to cover the many different types of
land use in peatland.

Ii D  .Ii1 C Pi  aMi / .i D 1; 2; ::; 6/

PFI D max Ii
1i6
25 Peat Fire Occurrence 391

Where Ii : Monthly index of peat fire (mm)

Pi : Monthly amount of precipitation (mm month1 )
Mi : Number of days in a month
a: Empirical constant (3.5 mm day1 in Central Kalimantan)
Suffix i from 1 to 6: from June to November
I0 D 0 (mm)
PFI: Peat fire index in a year
3.5 mm day1 was a proportional constant to evapotranspiration in Central
Kalimantan.

25.4.2 Annual Lowest Ground Water Level and PFI

The daily mean ground water levels from September, 1993 to December, 2007 are
shown with the daily rainfall in Fig. 25.12. The lowest groundwater levels in every
year are marked with red circles in the figure.
The peat fire index for each year was calculated and is shown in Fig. 25.13. In
the years with low groundwater levels, the peat fire indices become high. And the
two sets of figures show a linear relation with a 0.84 coefficient of determination.
Number of Hotspots and Peat Fire Index The number of hotspots in the Central
Kalimantan area (1.4–3.2ı S, 113–115ı E) was counted from the data set of
MODIS (Terra and Aqua) satellite information supplied by the Fire Information for
Resource Management System. The total number of hotspots in the area from June

Fig. 25.12 Daily mean groundwater level from September 1993 to December 2007 at Plot-1b in
the Sebangau Natural Laboratly and daily amount of rainfall at at Palangka Raya Meteorological
Observatory
392 H. Hayasaka et al.

Fig. 25.13 Linear regression of the peat fire index and the annual lowest groundwater level in the
forest

Fig. 25.14 Relationship 15000

between the number of
hotspots during dry season
Count of hotspot in Central Kalimantan

and the peat fire index in

Central Kalimantan area from
June to November for 6 years
10000
from 2001 to 2009

5000

y = 40.0x + 11
R² = 0.738

0
0 100 200 300 400
PFI

to November was counted for 8 years from 2002 to 2009, and shown in Fig. 25.14
excepting the data in 2007 and 2008, because the PFI of those 2 years were minus
values with large amounts of rainfall. The PFI has a linear relationship to the hotspot
count in Central Kalimantan with a 0.738 coefficient of determination.
Groundwater Level and Combustible Depth of Peat Layer Jaya et al. (2012)
showed the drying processes of peat layers by using the one dimensional tank model,
in which the peat layer from the surface to 1 m depth was divided into 20 layers
25 Peat Fire Occurrence 393

(a) 㻹㼛㼕㼟㼡㼞㼑㻌㼢㼛㼘㻑 (b) 㻯㼛㼙㼎㼡㼟㼠㼕㼎㼘㼑㻌㼐㼑㼜㼠㼔㻌㻌㻔㼏㼙㻕

㻜 㻞㻜 㻠㻜 㻢㻜 㻤㻜 㻝㻜㻜 㻜 㻝㻜 㻞㻜 㻟㻜 㻠㻜
㻜 㻜

㻙㻞㻜
㻙㻞㻜

㻳㼞㼛㼡㼚㼐㼣㼍㼠㼑㼞㻌㼘㼑㼢㼑㼘㻌㻔㼏㼙㻕
㻰㼑㼜㼠㼔㻌㻌㻌㻔㼏㼙㻕

㻙㻠㻜

㻙㻠㻜

㻙㻢㻜

㻙㻢㻜 㻟㻝㻌㻭㼡㼓㻚

㻤㻌㻭㼡㼓㻚 㻙㻤㻜

㻝㻜㻌㻿㼑㼜㼠
㼥㻌㻩㻌㻙㻞㻚㻞㻣㼤㻌㻙 㻟㻟
㻙㻤㻜 㻙㻝㻜㻜 㻾㼽㻌㻩㻌㻜㻚㻥㻥
㻞㻜㻌㻿㼑㼜㼠

㻝㻌㻭㼡㼓㻚

㻙㻝㻞㻜
㻙㻝㻜㻜

Fig. 25.15 Estimated moisture profile in peat layer (a), partly re-drawn from Jaya et al. (2012),
and the relationship between the combustible depth of peat layer and groundwater level (b)

with the thicknesses of 5 cm per layer. Using the model, they showed the changing
vertical profiles of peat moisture during the dry season in 2002 (Fig. 25.15a). Usup
et al. (2004) noted that surface peat in the field was easy to ignite when the peat
is dried to around 100 % gravimetric water content, which corresponded to 10 %
in volumetric water content. After the surface peat was ignited, the deeper layers
of peat also burned. But when the peat layer was wet enough, the layer could
not burned. The threshold moisture of peat layer for burning varied with the fire
intensity. The 40 % in volmetric water content was used as the threshold peat
moisture for burning in this paper. The depth of the peat layer, where the moisture
was dryer than 40 % in volumetric content, was defined as the combustible depth of
peat.
The relationship between the ignitable depth of the peat layer derived from
Fig. 25.15a and the groundwater level is shown in Fig. 25.15b. The depth of the
combustible peatlayer increases linearly with lower groundwater levels.
It is concluded that, the peat fire index, PFI, proposed in this paper has a
linear relationship with the lowest groundwater level in the peatland, and the total
number of hotspot observed by MODIS during dry season from June to November.
The depth of the combustible peat layer increased linearly by being lowered the
groundwater level. From the results, the depth of the combustible peat layer can be
estimated by using the PFI. The total amount of peat loss by fire is calculated by the
total burned area and the burned peat depth. Therefore PFI has a possibility to be
used for one of the early warning index in tropical peatlands, and for estimation of
carbon loss by peat fire.
394 H. Hayasaka et al.

Acknowledgements Results shown in this paper were mainly obtained from SATREPS (Science
and Technology Research Partnership for Sustainable Development) project entitled as “Wild
fire and carbon management in peat-forest in Indonesia” founded by JST (Japan Science and
Technology Agency) and JICA (Japan International Cooperation Agency). The authors thank
Minnie Wong of the University of Maryland, USA, for providing the MODIS hotspot data.

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