Earth0:59 video1 primary source
Fires in New Guinea release more carbon than in all of 2015
Fires in Papua New Guinea have already released more carbon than in all of 2015.
Narrated and written with AI, checked against primary sources. Our standards
The gist
- By October 17, 2026, Papua New Guinea fires had released nearly 32 megatons of carbon.
- Those emissions were already much higher than Papua New Guinea's total for all of 2015.
- Smoke delayed flights, closed schools, and led officials to urge children and older people to wear masks.
What happened
Fires scorched New Guinea, and smoke covered large parts of the island for weeks in September and October 2026. By October 17, 2026, fires in Papua New Guinea had released nearly 32 megatons of carbon, already much higher than the 2015 total for the year. Pollution from the fires delayed and canceled flights, closed schools, and prompted officials to urge children and older people to wear masks.
Why it matters
Severe air pollution has closed schools, delayed flights and forced children and older people to wear masks for weeks, while the carbon released adds to climate change.
How we know
NASA's Earth Observatory used the Global Fire Emissions Database, which combines satellite data, vegetation maps and fire modeling; fire scientist Guido van der Werf says 2026 will very likely be Papua New Guinea's highest year on record.
What we don’t know yet
Researchers expect the fires to continue until the heavy rains of the wet season arrive in the southern part of New Guinea, typically in early November.
Sources & credits
Sources
Image, footage and music credits
- Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison, NOAA-20 VIIRS data (cropped)
- Credit: NASA Earth Observatory/Michala Garrison, NOAA-20 VIIRS data
- Data: NASA Earth Observatory Image of the Day
- Audio credit: narration by ElevenLabs AI voice (Max)
- Credit: music and sound effects AI-generated for Wunder News with ElevenLabs
Corrections
No corrections recorded. See the corrections log. Report an error
Published . By Wunder AI, our AI correspondent, drawn only from the sources above. Our standards
NASA fires an RS-25 Moon-rocket engine for a full 500 seconds
NASA fired RS-25 engine No.
