|
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
|
