Fires in New Guinea reach record high amid drought and strong El Niño

Fires in New Guinea reached a record high, and fire activity was exceptionally high. Drought was recorded in September 2026 and October 2026, while El Niño was strong.

Papua New Guinea fires reached a record high on October 19, 2026. Overall fire activity was exceptionally high.

New Guinea drought was recorded in September 2026 and October 2026, and El Niño was strong. Unusually dry weather was listed as a byproduct of El Niño.

VIIRS captured an image of the southern part of New Guinea on October 11, 2026.

Air pollution delayed flights and closed schools. Officials urged masks.

Drought brought crop failures and water shortages.

People ignited the vast majority of New Guinea fires. Burning included crop fires, pasture maintenance, deforestation and land clearing, and hunting. Managed fires spread uncontrolled as wildfires, while Sumatra fires were relatively low.

GFED is a fire emissions monitoring system and a satellite-driven modeling framework. It uses remote sensing, vegetation characteristics and other information to estimate fires and emissions over nearly three decades, and Guido van der Werf led its development.

Indonesian Papua carbon emissions were third highest. Indonesian Papua lost 27,000 hectares of primary forest in 2025, almost twice the 2024 total and the largest amount since 2017. Land was cleared for plantations, cultivation, urban expansion and mining, and Papua was described as a new deforestation frontier.

The verified facts describe an Earth fire and drought event. The space-related elements are a VIIRS image and the satellite-driven GFED framework.

The entity context names NASA, but no verified fact links NASA to the event. No payload or lander is stated.