Northern Australia has seen a different weather pattern than southern Australia. The southern savanna regions were 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217 800-273-3217
There are significant fires in the Top End, Cape York, and the northern deserts. Recent rain across the central deserts has reduced the fire risk, but it will increase fuel loads and make for large fires in the summer.
We are professional fire watchers. 70 percent of the Australian continent is covered by tropical savannas and rangelands, which Rohan Fisher maps and monitors. The scale of burning we're seeing is almost as big as the lack of interest they generate.
The fire ecology of this continent is poorly understood by most Australians. Good fire knowledge is important as we enter the Pyrocene age.
Fire and water are connected in the desert.
In Australia, there are extensive, largely unmanaged, often destructive, and significantly under- reported fires. Improving their management involvement is crucial to both Traditional Owners and the ecological health of our continent.
We developed a mobile app to map fires in real-time.
Western Australia and the Northern Territory experienced a late start to the wet season and a serious heatwave in the last quarter of the year. The perfect conditions were provided by this.
Alice Springs recorded the wettest November on record in November. The fuel loads will be dangerous heading into summer.
Water and fire are combined in space and time in the desert. Fuel in the form of vegetation is the most heavy in fire.
This point is shown in the below satellite image. It shows the path of a fire that flowed like water along dry creek and drainage lines.
The fire is traveling along dry creek and drainage lines. The author is supplied.
It can lead to catastrophic outcomes if country is not managed for fire.
The incidence of previous fire affects the spread of fire. Large tracts of desert can accumulate heavy fuel loads without the regular application of fire.
Our data shows that central Australia burned more than 400,000 square kilometers in a few months in 2011. It was one of the largest fire events in recent Australian history and happened during the La Nina period.
The video shows how we mapped the spread of the fires from satellites in space.
Fire management through time.
Australia's Indigenous people have been burning landscapes for thousands of years. Most fires are relatively low-intensity and do not burn large areas. The chance of large fires is reduced by a fine-scale mosaic of different vegetation types.
Researchers have looked back to see how fire management has changed over time. This was done using aerial photography taken in the 1940s and 1950s, which were taken in preparation for missile testing at Woomera in South Australia.
The above aerial photo shows a mosaic of burn patterns and burn ages, which is a result of fine-scale land management by Traditional Owners.
The author is supplied.
A 1953 aerial photo shows a mosaic of fire in the Western Desert.
The fire regimes changed after the displacement of Indigenous people. The average fire size today is many orders of magnitude larger than the ones under Aboriginal management.
The change has been linked to the decline and extinction of mammals and plants. The Tanami desert is home to the rare bilbies and one huge fire in October burned over 7,000 square kilometers.
The author is supplied.
The Tanami desert fire burned over 7,000 km2 in a few days.
Back to the desert.
Fire in our deserts must be well- managed. It is difficult to get people back on desert country to reestablish fire mosaics, but it will have benefits for both nature and Indigenous people.
Building capacity amongst ranger groups and communities, overcoming legal and insurance hurdles, and employing novel techniques to apply "cool" fires at a near-continental scale are some of the challenges.
The role of Indigenous groups is important. 10 Deserts is a partnership between Indigenous andConservation organizations.
The 10 Deserts project is chaired by Peter Murray. He says that the work is important.
We're working on Indigenous cultural burning as a way to prevent wildfires. We are developing dedicated male and female ranger teams to look after the land. Traditional owners are encouraged to return to the desert to share and exchange knowledge as well as collect and store that knowledge to pass on to younger generations.
The name of the place is (Kanyirnin PA Jukurr PA/Gareth Catt).
When caring for fire-prone landscapes, Indigenous rangers are crucial.
Living in the middle of the planet.
Climate change has caused a global fire age called the Pyrocene. Challenges will be brought to the Australian continent.
Extreme fire weather will cause more severe fires. There is a need for good fire management in these landscapes. Some of the best fire management outcomes can be found in the northern tropical savannas.
The challenge is to introduce scales of fire management across the vast deserts. The regions are rich with nature and culture, and they deserve more attention than they have received to date.
Rohan Fisher is an Information Technology for Development researcher at Charles Darwin University.
The Conversation's article is a Creative Commons licensed one. The original article can be found here.
