Huge Sugarcane Fire - North Queensland

Huge Sugarcane Fires at Dusk in the Burdekin River Delta
LOCATION:
Burdekin River Delta - Ayr North Queensland, Australia (-19.57505 147.37136) at 19:30 (very low light for this shot!).
Ayr is one of the principal towns of the Burdekin Shire and lies at the heart of one of the most productive sugarcane-growing areas in Australia.
The Burdekin region is also known as the sugar cane capital of Australia, situated in the northern section of the Queensland Sugar Cane Corridor - a tract of sugar cane farms spanning the majority of the eastern coast of Queensland.
FIRE:
Sugar Cane Fires are large, controlled paddock fires (Cane Burning Notification authorises cane growers to burn sugarcane).
The idea is to burn off the outer leaves (trash) before harvesting, as the abundance of water in the region makes the cane grow fast and become too leafy to cut without burning.
ABUNDANCE OF WATER AND GEOLOGY OF THE REGION:
The Burdekin Catchment covers 130,120 km2 (93% of the Burdekin region). Rainfall over this large catchment averages 633 mm a year, resulting in river discharges to the coast of ~9234 GL each year. This vast catchment is mostly used for agricultural purposes, principally grazing however, the Lower Burdekin and Burdekin delta floodplains near the coast (seen in this video) feature intensive sugarcane farming (Reef Plan 2017).
The Burdekin River in northeastern Australia began forming a substantial delta system (delta plain area 1260 km2) during the Holocene epoch approx. 11.65 kyr PB (thousand years before present).
The delta comprises a vertical succession consisting of three depositional events, formed during the final stages of the postglacial sea-level rise (10-5.5 kyr BP). The most recent succession being the sand unit deposited principally in channel and mouth-bar environments, during the most recent sea-level stillstand (3-0 kyr BP). The main feature of delta architecture during the Holocene was the change from a wet environment 12-4 kyr BP, to the currently drier ENSO-dominated climate of today (Fielding et. al. 2006). The Holocene identifies with the current, modern warm period and follows the Last Glacial Period (LGP), aka. the Last Ice Age, which concluded with the Holocene glacial retreat. The Holocene and the preceding Pleistocene form the Quaternary period (Wikipedia 2023).
FLIGHT DISTANCE & RANGE:
Maximum range (max. distance b-n Pilot and Bird) = 1704 m.
Total distance flown from launch (return) = 3658 m
DJI FPV - LIMITS:
My flights are divided into 3 distance categories:
*** Short Range (0 - 2000 metres)
Easy/low-risk flights and absolutely what this bird was made for.
*** Medium Range (2000 - 4000 metres)
High risk as the bird is a long way out and RTH will definitely initiate. Know your battery limits and learn all the features of your RC!
*** Long Range (+4000 metres)
The risks of losing your drone become extreme and you really need to research all variables and weather. What emergency protocols could your flight involve? Make your Home Point elevated as high as possible - you'll need as much LOS as possible. DO YOUR HOMEWORK!!!
Unless you know what you are doing, the safety features on your drone will probably prevent you from flying beyond 4000 m anyway (i.e. critical low battery).
LINKS:
Cane Fires - Sweet Days Hot Nights Festival www.burdekin.qld.gov.au/news/...
Reef Plan 2017 (Burdekin Catchment Water Quality targets) www.reefplan.qld.gov.au/__dat...
Fielding et. al. 2006 Fielding, Trueman and Alexander 2006. Holocene Depositional History of the Burdekin River Delta of Northeastern Australia: A Model for a Low-Accommodation, Highstand Delta. Journal of Sedimentary Research 2006; 76 (3): 411-428. doi: doi.org/10.2110/jsr.2006.032 pubs.geoscienceworld.org/sepm...
Wikipedia 2023 Holocene epoch - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene
I used CapCut video editor for this video www.capcut.com/tools/desktop-...
EQUIPMENT:
The Bird of choice for this flight...
DJI FPV Combo (DH w.FW:01.02.0000) www.dji.com/au/dji-fpv
DJI FPV Controller and DJI Goggles V2
Goggle V2 antennae were the Lumenier AXII HD 2 Patch Visor 5.8GHz Antenna Combo Set for DJI FPV Goggles
www.getfpv.com/lumenier-axii-...
TRACK: This Fire by Franz Ferdinand • This Fire
MY CHANNEL: Send The Bird Up!!! @Mars2go
youtube.com/@Mars2go?si=o2Czc...
Drone adventure footage made with DJI FPV. This video may be from an SD card that I found!?!
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[@billthomas635]

I was a little surprised at this so checked: For various reasons 30% of the cane in NQ is burnt before harvest. The Herbert district, I suspect, burns less.

[@lovehand9531]

Pretty sweet fire ngl

[@TheSilmarillian]

Sugar cane has been burnt of for decades before harvest nothing to see here.

[@tomskellern6128]

and thats how we scatter the roaches