MODIS Witnesses Deforestation in Borneo: Agricultural fires rage

The skies over Indonesian Borneo is filled with the smoke from hundreds of fires set deliberately to clear indigenous forest areas for subsistence farmland and illegal logging. 

A shroud of thick, gray smoke hangs over the area when the Aqua satellite captured this image on Sept. 25, 2014. 

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard the Aqua satellite detected dozens of fires (locations outlined in red) across the entire region from Central Borneo to South Borneo and even on East Laut Island. 

Credit: Jeff Schmaltz, MODIS Rapid Response Team.

The skies over Indonesian Borneo are filled with the smoke from hundreds of fires set deliberately to clear indigenous forest areas for subsistence farmland and illegal logging.

A shroud of thick, gray smoke hung over the area when the Aqua satellite captured this image on September 25, 2014.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard the Aqua satellite detected dozens of fires (locations outlined in red) across the entire region from Central Borneo to South Borneo and even on East Laut Island.

Widespread burning in lowland forests on Borneo is an annual, man-made occurrence.

People use fires to manage and create agricultural lands, including large palm tree plantations that supply palm oil for biodiesel fuel; others are set accidentally during illegal exploitation and logging.

Lowland tropical forests are underlain by a swampy layer of peat that can be up to 20 meters (66 feet) thick.

During the rainy season, when the peat is waterlogged, leaves and other organic matter in the soil don't decay; when the peat dries out, it becomes flammable.

Burning peat generates huge amounts of smoke as is evident in this satellite image. These fires contribute significantly to annual greenhouse gas emissions.

In addition, the smoke released by any type of fire (forest, brush, crop, structure, tires, waste or wood burning) is a mixture of particles and chemicals produced by incomplete burning of carbon-containing materials.

All smoke contains carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and particulate matter (PM or soot).

Smoke can contain many different chemicals, including aldehydes, acid gases, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), benzene, toluene, styrene, metals and dioxins.

Human's exposure to adverse air quality and smoke should be limited as it can cause severe respiratory ailments.

UK Joint Strike Fighter (JSF): Unable to land on new UK Aircraft Carriers

The UK hi-tech jets that will be flown from the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers cannot land on the ships in "hot, humid and low pressure weather conditions", a report warns today.

The version of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) that has been bought for the £5.5bn carriers is still in development but currently cannot land vertically – as its predecessor the Harrier jump jet could – in warm climates without jettisoning heavy payloads, the UK National Audit Office (NAO) says.

Though the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) insists the problem will be overcome by the time the first carrier is ready for service in 2020, it is one of a number of concerns pointed out by the NAO over a project that has been bedevilled by delays and cost increases.

The spending watchdog says the early warning "Crowsnest" radar needed by the carriers will not be fully operational until 2022, meaning the ships will need protection from other navy vessels for two years while trials are completed.

Despite the difficulties, the NAO says the MoD avoided further financial calamity last year by choosing a different version of the JSF to fly from the carriers, the biggest warships ever built for the navy.



Originally the military decided it wanted the so-called "short take off, vertical landing" (STOVL) version of the JSF, which is being built and tested in the US, but in 2010, the MoD dumped the plan, with the ill-informed and dis-credited PM, Cameron, arguing in the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) that another type of the fighter-bomber was much more capable and compatible with the UK's allies.

The chaotic UK coalition government changed position again in May last year, reverting back to the STOVL aircraft because of the cost of refitting the carriers to accommodate the superior planes was said to be too costly.

Today's report castigates the decision, saying it was "based on immature data and a number of flawed assumptions". It is also obvious that the decision-makers were completely out of their depth strategically and focused only on cutting budgets.

Margaret Hodge, chair of the public accounts committee, said the saga was a "terrible waste of public money."

She said: "Decisions were based on the same wildly over-optimistic assumptions and poor understanding of costs and risks that have characterized this programme from the start."

Jim Murphy, the UK shadow defence secretary, said: "Flawed ministerial decisions have wasted millions of pounds of taxpayers' money at a time of mass service sackings and cuts to pensions and allowances."

Jet-Propelled Bloodhound faces land speed rocket test

The most powerful rocket produced in the UK for some 20 years is due to be ignited in Cornwall later.

It is being tested by the British Bloodhound team, which intends to use the booster in a car capable of running at more than 1,000mph (1,610km/h).

This feat would also smash the current world land speed record of 763mph.

Richard Noble

The rocket will be bolted to the ground in Newquay so that it cannot move, but the firing should make a spectacular noise along the north Cornwall coast.

It is being conducted at the Aerohub, Newquay Cornwall Airport, inside a shelter previously used to house Tornado fighter bombers.

As always, the UK Health and Safety Executive will be on hand to ensure everything runs smoothly.

Invited guests will watch the 10-second burn from inside another shelter via a video link.

Bloodhound is essentially the same team that claimed the existing land speed record for Britain in 1997.

Andy Green

It includes;

• the driver, RAF Pilot Andy Green, 
• project director Richard Noble and 
• chief aero engineer Ron Ayres.

But whereas their previous vehicle, known as Thrust SSC, used two jet engines to break the sound barrier, the new car, to be called Bloodhound SSC, will incorporate a jet engine and a rocket.

The jet is the well-established EJ200 power unit used in the Eurofighter-Typhoon, but the rocket is bespoke and must be put through a test programme to prove its performance and to certify it is safe for use in a manned machine.

Japan JAXA spacecraft to land in Wommera Australia

An Japanese spacecraft which has journeyed to an asteroid is expected to return to Earth at a remote site in the Australian outback in June, the government said Wednesday.

The unmanned Hayabusa craft, launched by the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) in 2003, is expected to touch down near Woomera in South Australia, Defence Minister John Faulkner said.

"This has been an historic mission," Faulkner said of the Hayabusa, which reached the Itokawa asteroid in late 2005.

"It is the first time a spacecraft has made contact with an asteroid and returned to earth."

Australian authorities will assist JAXA in recovering the Hayabusa spacecraft and are involved in preparations for its final flight path, he said.