Indonesia's Burned Land Doubled in September, Satellite Data Shows

JAKARTA, Oct 20 (Reuters) - The size of land burned in Indonesia in September was double the area from a month earlier, according to a deforestation monitor, as the country battles fierce wildfires that have caused air pollution, respiratory problems and transboundary haze.  

• Indonesia's cumulative burned area was 895,650 hectares (2.2 million acres) in August, but that jumped to 1.92 million hectares (4.74 million acres) by the end of September, according to Nusantara Atlas satellite data

• That surpassed the 1.39 million hectares cumulatively burned at the same point in 2019, a year when fires ultimately scorched 2.63 million hectares of land

• There were 1.15 million fire hotspots across Indonesia as of October 20, according to the Nusantara Atlas fire map

• Indonesia has come under heavy criticism after months of wildfires that have caused respiratory issues for hundreds of thousands of people and spread thick haze into neighbouring Singapore and Malaysia and East Timor

• Indonesia has been undertaking weather modification operations in Sumatra and Kalimantan, with its cloud-seeding missions bringing rainfall and improved air quality in several fire hotspots

• West Kalimantan has mounted the largest such operation, with 107 flights in the past four weeks, authorities said

• "We are using dry ice to disperse the smoke and allow sunlight to help trigger rain-cloud formation before conducting cloud-seeding operations with salt," presidential spokesperson Prasetyo Hadi said in a statement

• Since August 11, there have been 2,604 domestic flights affected by fires, more than 1,400 of those canceled or postponed, with haze disrupting landings, take-offs and ground operations, according to the civil aviation authority

(Reporting by Dewi Kurniawati, additional reporting Bernadette Christina and Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Martin Petty)