Story · Field atlas · No 13

The short version, in eight cards

parallaxlens.com/s/2026-09-21-indonesia-fire-burns-soil-not-trees
Parallax · Story 1 / 8
Parallax medallion, earth desk
Field atlas · No 13

Indonesia's fire is burning downward

You have seen the burned-area figure: 286,000 hectares. It misses the part that matters. In October 2015 this fire ate 24.8 centimetres of ground.

21 Sep 2026 · 4 min read · 14 sources
Swipe up Swipe
Field atlas · No 13 2 / 8
THE SEASON SO FAR

Eleven weeks, nearly a season

million tonnes of carbon
800 1997

Eleven weeks, nearly a season

Source · Carbon Brief fire emissions analysis, to 7 September 2026

Field atlas · No 13 3 / 8
WHAT ACTUALLY BURNED

Area is the wrong measure

What most people think

A fire season is as bad as the area it burned.

What the data shows

24.8cm

Eleven weeks of burning have nearly matched a normal full season. We usually size a fire by the land it covered.

Source · Mongabay, to 24 August 2026

Field atlas · No 13 4 / 8
WHERE THE SMOKE GOES

One province is carrying the season

INDONESIA MALAYSIA SINGAPORE BRUNEI PHILIPPINES THAILAND West Kalimantan Central Kalimantan South Kalimantan Riau Jambi South Sumatra

The haze

Source Reached

So depth is the measure nobody collects from orbit. What everyone sees instead is where the smoke goes.

Source · Mongabay and Nusantara Atlas, 9 August 2026

Field atlas · No 13 5 / 8
STRAIGHT DOWN

The fire took 24.8 centimetres

24.8 cm below the surface
0 cm Surface litter andplants. This burnsfirst 25 cm How deep the peatburned away, October2015 24.8 cm below thesurface 40 cm Where the law saysthe water must stay 50 cm Where plantationcanals actually putit

Peat is wet ground that burns once it dries. Novita, a peat researcher, explains: "Unlike fires in dry ecosystems, peat fires can smolder underground, so the soil itself becomes readily available fuel."

Source · Kiely 2019, Yokelson 2022, Mongabay, WRI

Field atlas · No 13 6 / 8
THE FOUR PIPES

All four end in the same place

1,496 million tonnes of carbon a year to The atmosphere
Indonesia's peat fires, 2015 333 Drained peat quietly rotting 72 Indonesia's cars and power plants 221 India's cars and power plants 870 The atmosphere 1,496
  1. Indonesia's peat fires, 2015 to The atmosphere 333 one bad season
  2. Drained peat quietly rotting to The atmosphere 72 every year, fire or not
  3. Indonesia's cars and power plants to The atmosphere 221 a whole country's fossil fuel
  4. India's cars and power plants to The atmosphere 870 India, for scale

That sequence runs every dry season. Now set it beside three other carbon flows. Three are converted from carbon dioxide to carbon first, so the widths compare directly. India's band is the widest, and Indonesia's own is a fraction.

Source · Carbon Brief, WRI, Our World in Data

Field atlas · No 13 7 / 8
THE PLUMBING DECISION

The agency ended, the canals stayed

2015
24.8 cm of ground gone
2016
The peat restoration agency is created
2019
The 40 cm rule arrives
2024
The agency's mandate expires
2025
The agency is folded away
2026
The first full season with nobody re-wetting

One bad season put out more carbon than Indonesia burns for power and transport in a year. But a body once existed to put the water back.

Source · Mongabay, Kiely et al., Carbon Brief

Field atlas · No 13 8 / 8
The whole issue

That's the short version.

9 sections
14 sources, linked
4 minutes
Still in the issue
  • Three words first
  • From canal
  • It costs
Read the whole issue
Share