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New Guinea fires: NASA image shows smoke as El Nino drought fuels record emissions

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Thick smoke from New Guinea fires streamed across the island in a satellite image released by NASA Earth Observatory on 22 October 2026, as drought linked to a strong El Nino left one of the world’s wettest regions primed to burn.

New Guinea fires: Smoke streams from fires in southern New Guinea in a VIIRS image from the NOAA-20 satellite on 11 October 2026
Smoke streams from fires in southern New Guinea in a VIIRS image from the NOAA-20 satellite on 11 October 2026 Photo: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison (public domain).

What the satellite saw over the New Guinea fires

The VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite captured thick smoke streaming from the southern part of the island on 11 October 2026, NASA said. New Guinea, the world’s second-largest island, holds savannas, tropical rainforests and lowland swamp forests across more than a dozen ecoregions. In September and October, as drought gripped it, fires scorched the island and smoke covered large areas for weeks. In recent weeks, high air pollution delayed and cancelled flights, closed schools and led officials in some areas to urge children and older people to wear masks, NASA reported. “It’s a horrible situation,” said Robert Field, an associate research scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies and Columbia University, explaining that much of the smoke stays near the surface and causes air quality problems.

Key Facts

  • Satellite image date: 11 October 2026 (VIIRS, NOAA-20)
  • Papua New Guinea emissions: nearly 32 megatons of carbon by 17 Oct, a record pace
  • Indonesian side: over 35 megatons, third highest on record
  • Dry spell in southern PNG: 90+ days without rain
  • Expected relief: wet season rains in early November

Record pace in Papua New Guinea

According to the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED), fires in Papua New Guinea, the eastern half of the island, had released nearly 32 megatons of carbon by 17 October, more than any other year on record at that point. “It’s very likely that this will become the highest year on record for Papua New Guinea, even surpassing 1997,” said Guido van der Werf, a fire scientist at Wageningen University & Research who led the development of GFED. On the Indonesian side, carbon emissions passed 35 megatons, the third highest after 2015 and 1997, which were also El Nino years with severe fires. The southernmost part of Papua New Guinea went more than 90 consecutive days without rain, according to the country’s National Weather Service, and since August parts of the region have received roughly 5 to 10 per cent of normal rainfall.

Why El Nino and land clearing matter

In this normally wet part of the world, people start most fires, for crops, pasture, land clearing and hunting, researchers told NASA. In dry conditions, managed fires can spread out of control, especially in the drier south. “Papua has emerged as Indonesia’s new deforestation frontier,” said Yang Chen of the University of California, Irvine. According to Global Forest Watch, Indonesian Papua lost 27,000 hectares of primary forest in 2025, nearly double the 2024 total and the most since 2017, NASA said. Fires in Sumatra are relatively low this year partly because many areas are already developed. Researchers expect the burning to continue until the wet season’s heavy rains reach southern New Guinea, typically in early November.

Why It Matters: The fires are hurting health, travel and schooling now, and record emissions add to the climate impact of an El Nino year across Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

Also on TrendDesh: El Nino could be off the charts, WMO warns, as UN releases $50 million to protect the most vulnerable · Iceland storm: NASA image shows Hurricane Isaias remnants turn into a powerful cyclone

Source: NASA Earth Observatory, 22 Oct 2026 · Global Fire Emissions Database · NASA FIRMS

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