Dr. Jeff Masters’ blog in WeatherUnderground this week discusses what may be the most costly disaster on Earth this year, but one that has escaped notice in most of the United States.  Here is what he has to say:

“Earth’s most expensive weather-related disaster of 2015–and the most expensive disaster in Indonesia’s history–is underway in that nation, where massive clouds of smoke from agricultural fires have choked the lungs of tens of millions of people for months. Indonesia’s Center for International Forestry Research estimated the smoke will cost $14 billion in agriculture production, forest degradation, health, transportation and tourism, according to an October 9 article in The Wall Street Journal. Indonesia’s Health Ministry says 20 million people–8% of the country’s population–have been impacted by this year’s haze; 120,000 of them have sought medical attention for respiratory problems. The disaster may also be the deadliest disaster of 2015, depending upon how one treats the difficult task of determining air pollution deaths.”  You can read more of his blog here.

The fires are linked to drought related to the current strong El Niño.  As the pool of warmer than normal water in the Pacific Ocean moves east, the thunderstorms that develop over it also move east, leaving the western Pacific under dry, sinking air.  This contributes to the droughts which often plague India and Indonesia in El Niño years.

MODIS image of smoke from fires burning in southern Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia as seen from NASA's Terra satellite at 03:15 UTC September 24, 2015. The red squares are fires detected from the spacecraft. Image credit: NASA.
MODIS image of smoke from fires burning in southern Sumatra and Borneo in Indonesia as seen from NASA’s Terra satellite at 03:15 UTC September 24, 2015. The red squares are fires detected from the spacecraft. Image credit: NASA.