| July 22, 2003 Cool "Eyes" Above Help Track Hot Fires Below NASA satellites' "eyes" above Earth are providing scientists and fire managers with powerful monitoring tools. NASA is providing the "big picture" needed to understand how fires behave before, during, and after damage has been done. A suite of NASA satellites, flying in coordinated fashion, offers the unparalleled insight only possible from space. Fire season is underway in the American West, with wildfires raging in at least 11 states, challenging fire agencies and their limited resources. Last year, flames engulfed more than seven million acres of forestland in the United States. "Fire is a global phenomenon, and using satellites, we have the ability to monitor fires and better understand the processes and changes in fire regimes associated with changes in climate and population," said Chris Justice, a professor of geography at the University of Maryland, College Park, Md. According to Justice, severe fires are occurring due to changing weather patterns, drought, changing land use and land management, and in some areas due to fuel accumulation resulting from suppression of fires. The expansion of housing into fire prone areas is also increasing risk. Remote sensing allows scientists to track fires, and related effects, such as the impact of gases and smoke on the composition and chemistry of the atmosphere. In order to understand the complete mechanics of wildfires, several NASA spacecraft are flying in formation, one behind the other, separated by only a few minutes, during mid- morning hours, obtaining data for use by fire managers on the ground. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service, via its Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) in Salt Lake City, is obtaining data directly from NASA's Terra and Aqua satellites. "We are interested in NASA assets being used for scientific research, but also for real-world applications," said Vince Salomonson, a NASA senior scientist at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), Greenbelt, Md. Through these satellites, each fitted with unique instruments, users like Tom Bobbe, RSAC Manager, may access specialized data for different phases of a fire. "Satellites assist fire managers in allocating limited fire fighting resources effectively," Bobbe said. Before a fire starts, satellite data can help identify areas at risk by providing information about vegetation densities and types, and whether conditions are dry enough to fuel fires. During a fire data from the latest overpass of NASA satellites are used to update active fire maps from models run four times a day, allowing fire agencies to prioritize aircraft flights for more detailed information about a site. Instruments, such as the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Terra spacecraft, provide daily, nearly global observations of the extent and relative intensity of fires and altitude estimates of smoke plumes. Another instrument keeps daily track of the carbon monoxide plumes from fires and the scope of pollution produced regionally and globally. After a fire is contained, imagery from space can help classify the burn area into levels of severity and prioritize rehabilitation work. The imagery can also be used over the longer term to keep tabs on the "green-up" of previously burned areas and to monitor the effectiveness of various treatments. NASA is testing a semi-autonomous system, dubbed "sensor web." Various satellites will have the ability to communicate with each other, and provide interactive layers of images. One satellite might detect a fire starting and then signal another satellite to take detailed or specialized images for better monitoring. NASA helped develop unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) technology and sensors for detailed fire observation. Collaborating with NASA, USDA is working to develop techniques for UAVs to assist with fire response and mapping. For more information about "eyes in the sky" on the Internet, visit:
http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/2003/0703esufire.html
For NASA's MODIS Rapid Response active fire maps, visit:
http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/index.html
For information about NASA's MODIS Land Rapid Response System, visit:
http://rapidfire.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/ ###
Contacts:
Elvia Thompson/Etta Jane Pagani
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-1696/1034)
Krishna Ramanujan
Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
(Phone: 301/286-3026) | |
Daily Active Fire Maps
The USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) creates daily active fire maps using data from the MODIS instrument on board NASA's EOS satellites, Terra & Aqua. Credit: USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center 
Global Fire Maps
This map shows the global distribution of active fire detections from Terra/MODIS for May 2003. Credit: NASA/University of Maryland 
Rapid Fire
This visualization zooms into the Fawn Peaks Complex Fire in Washington on July 21, 2003, ending with a close-up image from the MODIS instrument on the Aqua satellite. Yellow pixels show active fire areas. High resolution still image (7.5 MB)
High resolution without yelllow pixels (7.5 MB) Credit: NASA/ MODIS Land Rapid Response 
Today's MODIS Fire Image
Monday afternoon, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite detected several large fires burning across the Pacific Northwest. Marked with red outlines, the largest of the fires in the scene is the Fawn Peak Complex Fire in northern Washington (image center), which is producing a large plume of smoke. This complex consisted of three fires — the Fawn Peak, Farewell Fire, and Sweetgrass Fire — started by lightning on June 29, 2003. As of July 16, the Fawn Peak and Sweetgrass Fires were under control, but the Farewell Creek Fire continues to grow rapidly in the steep, dry, and rugged terrain of the Pasayten Wilderness. The fire was close to 50,000 acres as of Monday, July 21, when this image was captured by the satellite.
MODIS provides critical big-picture information on the number and size of fires burning across the U.S., and this information is sent automatically each day to the USDA Forest Service. The Forest Service incorporates the fire detection into their daily incident maps and uses the information to help decide where firefighting resources are needed most across the country. Credit: NASA/ MODIS Land Rapid Response 
The Aspen Fire
This Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) image from July 12, 2003, shows the area scorched by the Aspen Fire, northeast of Tucson, Arizona. Vegetation appears bright green while burned areas appear almost black. Credit: NASA/METI/ERSDAC 
Hayman Fire
In June 2002, the Hayman fire burned just north of Denver, Colorado, for nearly one month. Data from Terra 's multi-angle spectroradiometer, called MISR, reveals the fire's giant smoke plume in three dimensions.
The Earth science data featured in images 6 and 8 are managed and distributed by NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) through the Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC) Alliance. High resolution image (14 MB) Credit: NASA 
Rodeo-Chediski Fire
This image from the Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) shows the Rodeo (right) and Chediski (left) Fires on June 21, 2002. In this false-color image, vegetation appears bright green and burned areas are deep red. These two fires later combined to form to largest wildfire in Arizona history.
High resolution image.
High resolution version of July 7, 2002 fire.
Credit: NASA/USGS 
Biscuit Fire
The Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on the Terra satellite is capable of generating not only elevation data, but also land surface temperatures, radiance, and reflectance. The following animation zooms into the Biscuit fire and ends with a visual representation of ASTER radiance data. Burned areas are dark purple, and active fires are bright purple. Images like this help fire managers determine burn severity and make rehabilitation plans. High resolution image (13 MB). Credit: NASA 
Fires Around the Globe
This animation shows fire activity occurring from 8/21/2001 through 8/20/2002 on a rotating globe. The fires were detected by Terra/MODIS. Print resolution image (2560x1920 TIFF, 3 MB) of fire detected in North and South America on 7/22/02 Credit: NASA/ MODIS Land Rapid Response 
A Year of Fires
This animation shows seasonal fire activity from 8/21/2001 to 8/20/2002 displayed on a flat map. The fires were detected by Terra/MODIS.Print resolution image (4000x2000 TIFF, 10 MB) from 7/22/02 Credit: NASA/ MODIS Land Rapid Response 
Sensor Web
For the future, NASA is testing a semi-autonomous system, dubbed "sensor web," where various satellites will have an ability to communicate with each other, and provide interactive layers of images to ground users. In this way, one satellite might first detect a fire starting, and then signal another satellite to take a very detailed or specialized image of that fire for better monitoring. Credit: NASA 
Reporter's Package |
