Since January 15, a wildfire has raged across Amsterdam Island, a tiny 58km² islet administered by the French Southern and Antarctic Lands (TAAF) in the southern Indian Ocean. The French government is powerless to intervene and must simply wait for rain to put out the flames consuming the territory – one of the world’s most isolated at nearly 2,800km from Reunion Island.
By February 10, more than half the island had burned, according to the TAAF prefecture, based on satellite images.
When the fire first broke out, 31 people – technical staff, military personnel and scientists –were living at the Martin-de-Viviès permanent research station on the remote volcanic island, which is only accessible by boat. Everyone was evacuated from the base on January 16. As luck would have it, a French lobster fishing boat, the “Austral”, happened to be operating nearby and took them on board.
Two days later, they transferred to the TAAF supply ship “Marion-Dufresne”, which was also on a mission in the area, before eventually reaching Reunion Island on February 5.
The fire broke out via unknown causes at Pointe Bénédicte, around 3km from the Martin-de-Viviès base, the prefecture said. It then “spread southwards, under favourable weather conditions marked by dry weather and strong winds”.
As of February 10, it was impossible to determine whether the fire was still active, as satellite images alone could not confirm the hotspots’ level of activity.
A refuge for biodiversity
The impact of the fire is significant for two reasons. Firstly, Amsterdam Island, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is an important sanctuary for biodiversity. It hosts many seabirds including the endemic Amsterdam albatross as well as 84 percent of the world’s Indian Yellow-nosed albatross population, according to the French Polar Institute. It is also home to colonies of elephant and fur seals, which breed on its shores at this time of year.
The islet’s vegetation is also unique due to the presence of the Phylica arborea shrub, the only tree-like structure present in the five districts of the French Southern and Antarctic Lands, also according to the French Polar Institute.
Although it is still too early to assess the damage to the biodiversity caused by the fire, scientists are concerned about the species there now trapped by the flames.
Measuring global atmospheric pollution
Secondly, the fire risks creating scientific losses. Amsterdam Island is home to an important monitoring centre. Managed by France’s Laboratory for Climate and Environmental Sciences, the site is ideally suited for measurements of air, gases and air pollution.
“The island’s geographical location, its isolation and the low level of human activity mean that measurements can be taken in a particularly ‘clean’ environment,” said Marc Delmotte, the centre’s head.
At the station, atmospheric concentrations of “carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and ozone” are recorded second by second, Delmotte said. This data is then compiled with measurements from a network of twenty stations monitoring concentrations of various greenhouse gases, providing an invaluable resource for monitoring air pollution and studying climate change.
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The data is all the more important as the observatory is one of the world’s only sites for direct measurement of atmospheric background pollution on a global scale, alongside a site located on Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano. “As such, we always have two ways of taking measurements, so that we can ensure continuous readings even if one malfunctions,” Delmotte said.
What’s more, “within the national network, this observatory is our oldest station. It is therefore the one for which we have the longest series of measurements in the entire southern hemisphere”, said Delmotte. “An interruption in the readings is therefore a very unfortunate loss of data.”
However, since the fire broke out on January 15, no further measurements have been taken – a first since 1981. “We’re hoping this interruption will be as brief as possible,” he said.
Difficult to determine the damage
“The images we have seen show that all the vegetation around the monitoring site has burned, but we don’t yet know whether our instruments have been damaged,” Delmotte continued, adding that every possible precaution was taken before the site’s staff were evacuated.
While the living quarters at the research station still appear to be standing, infrastructure vital to personnel on site does seem to have been affected. “Water access and telecommunications systems are no longer operational,” the prefecture announced. There are no rivers on Amsterdam Island, meaning that the only available freshwater is collected and stored rainwater, and the photovoltaic panels ensuring the island’s electricity production have been affected.
A reconnaissance mission is due to depart from Reunion Island during the week of February 10. Comprising seven TAAF personnel including a doctor and four firefighters, its aim will be to more precisely measure the extent of the fire, identify potential remaining hotspots, and take stock of the damage and facilities.
“This isn’t the first fire to hit the island, but it’s certainly the biggest in a long time,” said Delmotte. “And depending on the damage highlighted by the mission, we’ll have a better idea of what work needs to be done.”
In any event, the needed repairs “will generate significant costs” and “take time” because of the island’s extreme isolation, he concluded, issuing a call for the French state to mobilise on a grand scale so that scientists are able to resume their important work ”as soon as possible”.
This article has been translated from the original in French by Nicolette Bundy.
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