The dynamics of rainfall and temperature on peatland in South Sumatra during the 2019 extreme dry season

Abstract

During the extreme dry season of 2019 massive fires broke out on peatlands in South Sumatera. This study examines the dynamics of rainfall and temperature in the peatlands of South Sumatera in the 2019 dry season as one of the fire disaster mitigation efforts. The data used are in situ measurement data by the Peatland Restoration Agency's measurement stations on two peatlands in South Sumatera. The results of this study indicate that rainfall in July until October 2019 was very minimal even in one of the study sites in August there was no rain. This shows that rainfall anomaly has occurred along with massive fires so that rainfall is possible to be used as one of the fire control parameters in peatlands. The lack of rainfall in South Sumatera during this period was due to the positive Indian Ocean Dipole phenomenon that occurred in the Indian Ocean. The results of this study also showed that temperature did not have a clear pattern of relationship with fire events on peatlands.