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Tag: wildfires

  • Mapping marvel: Mapping Earth’s wildfires

    Mapping marvel: Mapping Earth’s wildfires

    Image: FrankRamspott/E+/Getty Images
    Image: FrankRamspott/E+/Getty Images

    It is no secret that the world has been burning for months. Devastating wildfires have encompassed Greece, Canada, the United States, and other parts of the world. These wildfires have incinerated entire communities, taken lives, and has had disastrous environmental effects. This wildfire outbreak can be attributed to several factors, but mainly the global climate crisis.

    Why are these wildfires a monumental problem?  

    Widespread wildfires displace of thousands of people from their homes, raze entire communities and cities, wipe out farmland and other essential resources, create horrific air pollution — that causes inflammation of lung tissue and increases vulnerability to infections — and many other devastating effects. 

    Image: NASA
    Image: NASA

    As reported by NASA, July has been the hottest month on record since the 1880’s. This has caused extreme dry conditions that are ideal for wildfire outbreaks, among other natural disasters. 

    Image: Screenshot of BBC video
    Image: NASA

    Flames engulfed parts of Hawaii the morning of Wednesday, August 9, which destroyed a centuries-old town and killing at least 106 people as of August 16. The wildfires took natives and tourists on the island by surprise. Residents and tourists were forced to evacuate the area – including some who reportedly jumped into the ocean to escape the flames. The National Weather Service stated the combination of high winds and low humidity is what caused the dangerous fire conditions across the island. The devastating fire left behind burned-out cars on once busy streets and smoking piles of debris where historic buildings once stood.  

    Image: Screenshot of BBC video
    Image: Screenshot of BBC video

    The Greece wildfires swept across the island of Rhodes, Corfu and Evia in July, creating thick clouds of smoke and forcing thousands of people the evacuate. These fires were caused by several human imposed factors such as campfires, arson and sheer negligence. However, the deadly heatwave that scorched Europe this summer — caused by carbon emissions — has not helped prevent the start and spread of these wildfires.  

    Image: VichienPetchmai/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Image: VichienPetchmai/iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    The Air Quality Index (AQI) measures the density of five pollutants: ground-level ozone, particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. It was originally established by the Environmental Protection Agency to communicate the cleanliness of the air Americans are breathing every day. The index runs from zero to 500 — the higher the number the more polluted the air is. Effects of air pollution can range from mild symptoms, such as eye and throat irritation, to serious ones such as heart and respiratory issues. Pollution can cause inflammation of the lung tissue and increase the vulnerability to infections. 

    During wildfires, fine particles in the soot, ash and dust can fill the air. The AQI identifies the concentration of particles smaller in diameter than 2.5 μM. When these particles are inhaled, the tiny specks can increase the risk of heart attacks, cancer, and respiratory infections — especially in children and older adults. 

    Image: NASA
    Image: NASA

    Based on data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, there are 1037 active fires in Canada: 652 are out of control, 161 are being held in place, and 224 are under control as of August 23. Many of these fires were caused by lightning; however, with above-average temperatures this year and dry conditions, wildfires have been breaking out in Canada since May.  

  • Mapping air quality from Canada’s wildfire smoke

    Mapping air quality from Canada’s wildfire smoke

    Smoke from the Canadian wildfires continues to pollute the air across the United States, mainly affecting cities in the northeast, including Pittsburgh, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Buffalo.

    According to the New York Times, in early June, the level of particulate matter in the air from smoke became so unhealthy that many U.S. cities set records. Visibility decreased in many cities as well, with the smoke creating an orange haze.

    Most of the smoke can be attributed to several fires burning across Canada. Many of these fires were caused by lightning; however, with above-average temperatures and dry conditions, wildfires have been breaking out since May.

    Photo:
    A storm system off the coast of Nova Scotia forced smoke from the fires southeast into the United States. (Image: NOAA)

    Based on data from the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre, there are 480 active fires in Canada: 252 are out of control, 77 are being held in place, and 151 are under control.

    The fires are mapped in the image below.

    Photo:
    The red dots represent the out-of-control fires, the green dots are fires being held in place, and the yellow dots are fires that are under control. (Image: Screenshot of CIFFC wildfire map)

    Understanding air quality importance

    The Air Quality Index (AQI) measures the density of five pollutants: ground-level ozone, particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, and sulfur dioxide. It was originally established by the Environmental Protection Agency to communicate the cleanliness of the air Americans are breathing every day.

    The index runs from zero to 500 — the higher the number the more polluted the air is.

    Effects of air pollution can range from mild symptoms, such as eye and throat irritation, to serious ones such as heart and respiratory issues. Pollution can cause inflammation of the lung tissue and increase the vulnerability to infections.

    During wildfires, fine particles in the soot, ash and dust can fill the air.

    The AQI identifies the concentration of particles smaller in diameter than 2.5 μM. When these particles are inhaled, the tiny specks can increase the risk of heart attacks, cancer, and respiratory infections — especially in children and older adults.

    Below is an updated map of air quality from the U.S. AQI as of June 28.

    Photo:
    The colors on the map range from yellow — which is unhealthy air quality — to purple, meaning the air quality is hazardous. (Image: AirNow.gov)
  • Lifesaving GPS technology aids in natural disasters

    Lifesaving GPS technology aids in natural disasters

    By Alex Damato, Acting Executive Director, GPS Innovation Alliance

    Alex Damato
    Alex Damato

    It can be easy to take GPS for granted as the average driver and smartphone user continues to enjoy convenience, entertainment and navigation from this technology, enhancing nearly every part of our daily lives. While we may not enjoy its benefits every day, one important use case keeps us and our environment safer: GPS has become a vital part of modern emergency response.

    Many Americans across the nation are preparing for the impending hurricane season or the threat of other natural disasters, such as wildfires and earthquakes. GPS will play a critical role in recovery and response efforts. When natural disasters occur, accurate and actionable location information helps save lives and restore critical infrastructure as quickly as possible.

    GPS has fundamentally improved access to information that can help the public prepare for these natural disasters, rather than waiting for them to strike. This information is more critical than ever. For example, California’s Oak fire spread to almost 20,000 acres and is part of a larger trend in California that has destroyed 14,700 buildings and killed 36 people over the past two years. Farther north, 530 wildfires in Alaska burned areas larger than the state of Connecticut in the state’s worst fire season in recent history.

    Photo: Alextov//iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images
    Photo: Alextov//iStock/Getty Images Plus/Getty Images

    In addition to helping the public face natural disasters, GPS helps firefighters plan their operations more efficiently and enables them to receive real-time information on the location of the wildfires they are fighting. With real-time mapping, planning and operations, fire chiefs can respond immediately to areas where wildfires are dangerously advancing.

    In turn, GPS protects our first responders by preventing firefighters from getting caught in unpredictable fires they would have otherwise not known were heading their way.

    Firefighters use IGNIS drones to help prevent wildfires from starting or safely contain them with backburns. IGNIS relies on GPS for tracking, safety and control, which in turn helps firefighters avoid the dangers associated with being near prescribed burns. Without GPS, resources to help firefighters would not be deployed as efficiently — wildfires could spread even more quickly as a result, causing even more damage to our homes and infrastructure.

    Beyond wildfires, GPS technology is critical to emergency response and weather safety. GPS data allow emergency responders to better locate callers and reduce the incidence of misrouting to outside jurisdictions. Using GPS data, a caller can be located in close proximity to his or her actual location. By reducing rates of misrouting and accurately pinpointing emergency locations, GPS helps reduce response time by taking away the need to reroute calls and search for callers’ locations.

    In a recent experiment, NASA-commissioned researchers used GPS signals to better predict a hurricane’s maximum wind speed, which could help federal agencies and forecasters better predict the danger of hurricanes and provide more actionable information to determine whether to issue evacuation orders.

    The GPS Innovation Alliance (GPSIA) is proud to support the role of GPS as a critical enabling technology for public safety, disaster response and relief efforts. With GPS, precise real-time location information is at the fingertips of both consumers and first responders from pre-disaster planning efforts to post-disaster recovery. While GPS has already fundamentally improved modern emergency response systems, GPSIA will continue to advocate for the continued growth of these lifesaving GPS-enabled technologies and applications through rigorously developed technical rules, interference protections, and a predictable spectrum environment.

    Many of us have grown accustomed to the ease of GPS-enabled technologies, from smartphone to fitness trackers. At GPSIA, we’re also particularly proud of the role GPS plays in the many other life-saving ways the technology is being used and are committed to continuing this critical work.

  • Teren kicks off nationwide lidar content library program

    Teren kicks off nationwide lidar content library program

    Image: Teren
    Image: Teren

    Teren, a climate resilience analytics company, has expanded its Premium 4D Content program for regions across the United States, including the Gulf Coast, Midwest, Rocky Mountains and West Coast.

    Teren acquires and quickly processes high-fidelity lidar data, making it available via its content library, and delivers analytics with actionable insights to energy and engineering firms.

    “Climate change is causing drought, flooding, landslides and wildfires across the country – significantly impacting asset owners and project developers. As a result, the market demand for high-fidelity, temporal data to identify, prioritize, and monitor climate-related risk is higher than ever,” said Toby Kraft, Teren CEO.

    Teren is amassing a content library of remotely-sensed 3D (spatial) data across the United States. That data is updated on regular intervals to monitor changes over time providing a unique 4D (temporal) view. This 4D data library feeds analytics that identify risk, inform mitigation, and strengthen asset resilience. While remotely-sensed data has traditionally been sourced on a project-by-project basis, Teren offers its data and analytics as a subscription service. This model drives down the costs for clients and stakeholders, helping to maximize the speed of delivery, return on investment, and data value.

    “In our flagship content region, Appalachia, our customers tap into our 4D content library to identify and monitor the terrain and surface conditions surrounding their assets — primarily aiming to identify and mitigate landslides before they become catastrophic incidents,” Kraft said. “We’re expanding the program nationwide to meet the growing demand for terrain monitoring and climate resilience analytics around events such as erosion, flooding, wildfires and more.”

    Teren’s solution saved clients in Appalachia an estimated $152 million annually, preventing 24 failures per year due to landslides. While landslides are not as pervasive across the United States, companies can apply the data and analytics suite for the following:

    • Gulf Coast: inundation, subsidence, land movement
    • Midwest: erosion, flooding, subsidence
    • Rock Mountains: landslides, flooding, wildfire
    • West Coast: wildfires, land movement, flooding.

    Traditionally used by the energy sector, Teren’s data has also proven to be highly valuable to state and federal agencies, insurers and civil engineers. Teren expects to see increased variability across clients and use cases as the content region expands.

    To learn more about Teren or to request a demo, visit www.teren4d.com.

  • Reapers used to fight California wildfires

    Reapers used to fight California wildfires

    This month, we look at new applications that might interest even the most tech-savvy. From military Reaper unmanned vehicles being turned into civilian fire-fighters, through continuing drone flights on Mars, to e-scooters monitored by AI-system, the autonomous arena continues to grow. 

    Reaping Disaster-Response Benefits

    The General Atomics Reaper unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) is usually a weapon of war. Most of us picture them loaded with missiles to be fired on terrorist hideouts, with video of the impact appearing on the six-o’clock news. Soldiers in small control shacks guide these worldwide attacks, while politicians watch the outcomes remotely with their own direct TV coverage. This is how we tend to think of these destructive systems.

    However, Reapers recently have been helping fight the huge fires devastating the California landscape — a more humanitarian, supportive role for a military asset.

    General Atomics Reaper UAV on patrol and remote pilots (Photo: California Air National Guard)
    General Atomics Reaper UAV on patrol and remote pilots (Photos: California Air National Guard)

    The California Air National Guard (ANG) has been assisting firefighters for many years by using helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft to determine the intensity of large California fires and to plot their boundaries.

    In the past 10 years, with the availability of large reconnaissance UAVs and assistance from the Federal Aviation Administration to develop and approve operational procedures, an approach has been formulated to employ Reapers, with the potential to reduce costs and greatly improve response times.

    Having large UAVs at altitude in civilian airspace requires an accompanying chase plane to ensure safe operation. With proven onboard detect-and-avoid capability and visibility through crew monitoring, the chase aircraft only monitors the Reaper’s climb to operational altitude. Using infrared and video from onboard cameras, data is downlinked and post-processed to create fire maps. Artificial intelligence (AI) automates this procedure to provide incident commanders with a near-real-time situational overview.

    Besides mapping the fire, the incident commander can keep track of firefighters on the ground and gain a clearer picture of the fire’s intensity, rate of growth and direction. With a high altitude view of the landscape, Reaper pilots also help determine the best evacuation routes. Video downlinks provide real-time fire dynamics to commanders and even to firefighters on the ground who carry handheld devices.

    When equipped with long-range fuel tanks, Reapers can remain on task for up to 18 hours. The pilot and systems operator in their remote mission-control shack can hand over control to a new crew for such a long mission. The new crew can even be in a different location when it assumes control.

    The experience gained in California regarding flight approvals, operations and use of data is being shared with remote UAV crews and emergency-response controllers in other U.S. jurisdictions as well as other countries. The procedures can be used not only for firefighting, but also for earthquake, flooding and hurricane response.

    Our Martian Adventure

    NASA has extended the mission on Mars of its Ingenuity UAV, which arrived on the planet attached to the belly of the Perseverance rover. The original mission was to establish that controlled flight on the planet’s surface was possible.

    Ingenuity has now spent more than one year on the surface of Mars and has 21 flights under its belt. The diminutive copter has taken on an extended role of scouting out potential routes for its SUV-sized mother ship.

    Integrity runs ‘wiggle test’ of its rotor-blades prior to flight. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)
    Integrity runs a “wiggle test” of its rotor blades prior to flight. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU)

    Ingenuity’s 21st flight is the first of at least three needed to transverse the Séítah region to reach its next base. From there, it will make flights to examine an old river delta. The whole relocation trip will cover about 1,150 feet as Integrity navigates around a large hill. While flying these investigative routes, the NASA team continues to gently push the drone’s capabilities to better understand improvements that can be applied to future Mars UAV designs.

    Proposed route to reach river delta. (Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/USGS)
    Proposed route to reach river delta. (Image: NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/USGS)

    Once at the river delta, Ingenuity will encounter higher ground — up to 130 feet above the floor of the Jezero Crater, where it previously flew. The new area is expected to present significant obstacles: jagged cliffs, angled surfaces, rocky outcroppings and sand-filled traps. These obstacles could hamper the Perseverance rover or tip over the small drone on landing. But it’s also a place NASA thinks could harbor evidence of past life.

    On arriving at the delta, Ingenuity’s first task will be to help decide which of two river channels Perseverance should take to climb to the delta. Data from the drone will also pick out science targets that Perseverance could investigate on the way. Once established in the delta region, NASA also hopes to fly Ingenuity to scout other features the rover might not be able to reach, but which might be accessible on future missions.

    NASA has uploaded several upgrades to Ingenuity. They enabled higher, faster and longer flights and speed changes. The upgrades also have improved the drone’s perception of landing areas. Potential upgrades include adding terrain elevation maps and a hazard-avoidance capability for safer landing.

    E-Scooters Adopt Pedestrian Defense

    An outfit that rents e-scooters in more than 60 cities worldwide is adopting a “pedestrian defense” AI upgrade to prevent renters from abusing others around them and keep them riding within acceptable rules of operation.

    LINK e-scooter (Photo: Superpedestrian)
    LINK e-scooter. (Photo: Superpedestrian)

    Previous efforts have only give riders visual and audio warnings that they should not enter a sidewalk. This new e-scooter active defense system slows the scooter to a stop and will not allow it to resume operation until it is moved outside the prohibited area.

    Other unsafe behaviors — riding the wrong way up one-way streets, parking in the wrong place or aggressively swerving — also can be detected and actively deterred.

    Sensors on the scooter provide data that relates location and activity to onboard stored city maps and geofenced areas. This enables application of enforcement commands within a second of them being detected.

    The system provides cities and operators with visibility for the whole fleet of scooters. It shows what renters are doing within existing street safety restrictions, allowing both city and rental company officers to address perceived operational issues.

  • Visualizing the Australian bushfires through satellites and maps

    Visualizing the Australian bushfires through satellites and maps

    The months-long wildfires raging in Australia have killed at least 25 people. Millions — possibly 1 billion — animals have died. More than 2,000 houses have been destroyed. Around 150 fires are still burning in New South Wales and Queensland, with hot and dry conditions accompanied by strong winds fueling to the fires’ spread.

    With this conflagration rocking the continent down under, satellite imagery has become important to understanding the scope of the disaster. Here are some of the recent captures.

    As seen from the ISS

    “Talking to my crew mates, we realized that none of us had ever seen fires at such terrifying scale,” European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano tweeted on Monday, sharing photos taken from the International Space Station.

    The astronaut posted images showing what he described as “an immense ash cloud” captured at the time the ISS was flying toward sunset.

    Artist’s visualization misinterpreted

    Another social media image, shared widely, was interpreted as a map showing the live extent of fire spread, with large sections of the populous eastern coastline molten red. Because of widespread misinterpretation, the original poster then explained that the image was a 3D visualization and not a photograph of Australia, and showed some areas where fires have been extinguished.

     

    View this post on Instagram

     

    * Didn’t realise this would go viral ? PLEASE READ BELOW* Regarding False Information. This has occurred NOT because of this post, or my information being inaccurate. It has been Zucc’d because other people have shared this image with the caption “This is a NASA photograph”. This image has been flagged as a result. Update – this is now being corrected, finally. Should be clear in a day or so… This is a 3D visualisation of the hotspots in Australia. NOT A PHOTO. Think of this as a graph. Also note this was created as an art piece This is made from data from NASA’s FIRMS (Satellite data regarding fires) between 05/12/19 – 05/01/20. These are all the areas which have been affected by bushfires. https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#z:5;c:137.4,-27.9;t:adv-points;d:2019-12-05..2020-01-05;l:dark_gray,firms_viirs,firms_modis_a,firms_modis_t Scale is a little exaggerated due to the render’s glow, but generally true to the info from the NASA website. Also note that NOT all the areas are still burning, and this is a compilation. This image is copyrighted by Anthony Hearsey. Please contact for usage. DONATE HERE – https://linktr.ee/lukebakhuizen?fbclid=IwAR1hxUc97BXMPIxjiJqcVW7uG8wlgkPLfyO2wVFLVRDSw5X6cXAGeBuikeM _ #bushfires #render #visualisation #data #3d #australia #climatechange #disaster #fire #infographic #cinema4d #graphic #nasa

    A post shared by Anthony Hearsey (@anthony_hearsey) on


    NASA and USGS Landsat images

    NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey’s Landsat 8 satellite imagery from Jan. 9 shows Kangaroo Island, home to nature reserves. The images were taken using the Operational Land Imager (OLI) on Landsat 8. Using natural-color observations, the images show burned land and thick smoke covering the island, of which at least 156,000 hectares have burned.

    Photo: NASA/USGS
    Photo: NASA/USGS

    The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) satellites are also capturing images, including the resulting plumes of smoke.

    Worldview-3 captures Australia’s wildfires

    Maxar collected satellite imagery Jan. 12 of the wildfires in New South Wales (NSW). The imagery shown below focuses on the area near the town of Eden, and demonstrates the value of the shortwave infrared (SWIR) sensor.

    SWR satellite imagery of the town of Eden shows the wildfires through the smoke. (Satellite images ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
    SWR satellite imagery of the town of Eden shows the wildfires through the smoke. (Satellite images ©2020 Maxar Technologies)

    In an image taken with Maxar’s normal RGB color imagery, the smoky air prevents a clear view of the fires and the hot spots. With Maxar’s WorldView-3 satellite, however, the team is able to penetrate through the smoke using its SWIR sensor for a detailed look at the fire lines and burned vegetation.

    With SWIR imagery, burning areas are apparent and show up in a glowing orange-red. Healthy vegetation shows up in shades of blue, and burned vegetation appears in shades of brown.

    Satellite Photo: :ESA
    Satellite Photo: :ESA

    Copernicus Sentinel-3 imagery

    Europe’s Copernicus Sentinel-3 mission has captured the multiple bushfires burning across Australia’s east coast.

    In the above image, captured on Nov. 12, 2019, at 23:15 UTC (Nov. 13, 09:15 local time), the fires burning near the coast are visible. Plumes of smoke can be seen drifting east over the Tasman Sea. Hazardous air quality owing to the smoke haze has reached the cities of Sydney and Brisbane.

    Flame retardant was dropped in some of Sydney’s suburbs as bushfires approached the city center, and many residents were evacuated. Firefighters continue to keep the blazes under control.

    The Copernicus Emergency Management Service – Mapping was activated to help respond to the fires. The service uses satellite observations to help civil protection authorities and, in cases of disaster, the international humanitarian community, respond to emergencies.

    Quantifying and monitoring fires is fundamental for the ongoing study of climate, as they have a significant impact on global atmospheric emissions. Data from the Copernicus Sentinel-3 World Fire Atlas shows that there were almost five times as many wildfires in August 2019 compared to August 2018.

    Additional images from Worldview-3

    Fireline south of Eden. (Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
    Fireline south of Eden. (Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
    Fires new Eden. ( Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
    Fires new Eden. (Satellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
    Closeup of fires at Honeysuckle Point south of Eden. (9atellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
    Closeup of fires at Honeysuckle Point south of Eden. (9atellite image ©2020 Maxar Technologies)
  • US wildfires mapped and placed in context

    US wildfires mapped and placed in context

    An Esri Storymap provides a quick snapshot of the raging fires across the United States and provides context to the severity of the California fires.

    The interactive map can be explored by panning and zooming. Click on a fire and information about that particular fire is displayed including the start date, containment and links to the latest news and social information.

    Esri Story Maps let users combine authoritative maps with text, images and multimedia content. It harnesses the power of maps and geography to tell a story in an easy and understandable format, the company said.

    The Story Map uses the ArcGIS Javascript API and is linked to interactive timelines and magnitude displays. The cartography uses AGOL Firefly symbology — radial gradients — and a dark basemap.

    The fires and perimeters are a service of the GeoMAC community that uses the Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination, an internet-based mapping application that is designed for fire managers to access online maps of current fire locations and perimeters in the United States.

    Members of GeoMAC include:

    • U.S. Geological Survey
    • National Interagency Fire Center
    • National Weather Service
    • Bureau of Land Management
    • Remote Sensing Application Center
    • National Geophysical Data Center.

    The data is updated manually based on information from a host of sources including those on the ground. Typically, the data is fresh to about 24 hours, but there is variability because it is a carefully curated process.

    Diving deeper for information

    Esri has updated the app based on feedback from many different groups including firefighting professionals, those directly affected by fires, and those concerned about loved ones affected by fires. Some of the updates include the addition of the National Weather Service (NWS) animated smoke risk forecast, visualized to more directly represent smoke (see below).

    The NWS animated smoke risk forecast is now integrated into Esri's Story Map app. (Screenshot: Esri)
    The NWS animated smoke risk forecast is now integrated into Esri’s Story Map app. (Screenshot: Esri)

    Another is the addition at finer scales of satellite-detected hot spots to indicate fire direction — sensors. Many Earth-observing satellites contain sensors capable of detecting the infrared energy released by fires. Not only can the hotspots be located, but areas of burned land can also be identified based both on their thermal characteristics and visible appearance. In Esri’s ArcGIS Living Atlas of the World, the MODIS Thermal Activity layer provides daily updated global hotspot locations.

    In the U.S., the USA Wildfire Activity layer in the Living Atlas provides a more quality controlled version of the data. It shows only wildfires submitted to the USGS by fire agencies, as opposed to all of the other events that can cause an automated satellite-based hotspot detection. However, since this layer relies on human analysis, sometimes it doesn’t update as frequently as the MODIS hotspots. The layer also contains the perimeter of the fire area. Both current (active) and older (inactive) fires are included.

    While the weather-focused satellites from NOAA and NASA provide high temporal resolution fire data, really detailed analysis of the fire impact is often left to moderate resolution multispectral imaging satellites such as Landsat 8 and Sentinel-2, or commercial high-resolution satellites. That is the benefit of the multispectral capabilities of the Sentinel-2 satellite, now available in the Living Atlas. Sentinel-2’s infrared sensitivity (Channel 12; 2.19 micron band) provides the ability to identify areas of active fires, much like NOAA-20 or Aqua/Terra, but at 20m resolution.

    In addition to visualizing active fire areas, multispectral imagery is also effective at assessing burn scars. Besides the ecosystem impact, denuded vegetation along sloped areas can lead to landslides, especially when combined with heavy rains.

  • Esri, DigitalGlobe map California wildfires

    Using live data from USGS and Waze, a new Esri interactive map visualizes active wildfire locations and traffic alerts for Northern California.

    The map incorporates a new mapping technique to group traffic alerts at locations where there is a high density of alerts. This method enables faster and more effective visual analysis in areas where there are many alerts that would normally overlap.

    Active fire data displays the locations of large fire incidents in Northern California. Data is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and The Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination Group, and is intended to give near real-time understanding of the situation on the ground.

    Location and status of active fires is updated throughout the day as new information is gathered by first responders.

    Data from Waze is reported by users of Waze and updated every two minutes. This data, provided by Waze through the Connected Citizens Program, contains filtered data for affected area including system-generated traffic jams and user-reported traffic incidents (including jams, accidents, hazards, construction, potholes, roadkill, stopped vehicles, objects on road, and missing signs).

    DigitalGlobe releases images of Northern California wildfires

    DigitalGlobe has released high-resolution satellite images of the wildfires burning in Northern California. These wildfires have killed at least 21 people, destroyed at least 3,500 structures, and burned more than 115,000 acres.

    The Oct. 10 images were collected using the Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) sensor on DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 satellite, which is uniquely able to pierce through the wildfire smoke to see where the fires are burning on the ground. For comparison, the ground and the fire line are completely obstructed by smoke in the natural color image of the same area (see the larger overview image on the first slide).

    The Oct. 11 images were taken by DigitalGlobe’s GeoEye-1 satellite. Some of these are natural color, while others are shown in the Very Near Infrared (VNIR), where burned areas appear gray and black and healthy vegetation is red.

    Additionally, DigitalGlobe has activated its Open Data Program, which provides imagery to support recovery efforts in the wake of large-scale natural disasters. Pre- and post-wildfire imagery of the affected areas are available to emergency responders on the Santa Rosa wildfires page.

    Fountain Grove Golf Club in Santa Rosa, California, natural color. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe.)
    Fountain Grove Golf Club in Santa Rosa, California, natural color. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe.)
    Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, California, color-infrared. Santa Rosa, California. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe)
    Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, California, color-infrared. Santa Rosa, California. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe)
    The northwest fire line of the wildfire that devastated Santa Rosa, California, taken by satellite Oct. 10. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe)
    The northwest fire line of the wildfire that devastated Santa Rosa, California. SWIR image taken by satellite Oct. 10. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe)

  • Esri tracks wildfires with interactive map

    Using live data from USGS and Waze, a new Esri interactive map visualizes active wildfire locations and traffic alerts for Northern California.

    The map incorporates a new mapping technique to group traffic alerts at locations where there is a high density of alerts. This method enables faster and more effective visual analysis in areas where there are many alerts that would normally overlap. Zoom in on the map to reveal the latest individual traffic alerts.

    Active fire data displays the locations of large fire incidents in Northern California. Data is provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service and The Geospatial Multi-Agency Coordination Group, and is intended to give near real-time understanding of the situation on the ground.

    Location and status of active fires is updated throughout the day as new information is gathered by first responders.

    Data from Waze is reported by users of Waze and updated every 2 minutes. This data, provided by Waze through the Connected Citizens Program, contains filtered data for affected area including system-generated traffic jams and user-reported traffic incidents (including jams, accidents, hazards, construction, potholes, roadkill, stopped vehicles, objects on road, and missing signs).

  • DigitalGlobe releases images of Northern California wildfires

    DigitalGlobe has released high-resolution satellite images of the wildfires burning in Northern California. These wildfires have killed at least 21 people, destroyed at least 3,500 structures, and burned more than 115,000 acres.

    The Oct. 10 images were collected using the Shortwave Infrared (SWIR) sensor on DigitalGlobe’s WorldView-3 satellite, which is uniquely able to pierce through the wildfire smoke to see where the fires are burning on the ground. For comparison, the ground and the fire line are completely obstructed by smoke in the natural color image of the same area (see the larger overview image on the first slide).

    The Oct. 11 images were taken by DigitalGlobe’s GeoEye-1 satellite. Some of these are natural color, while others are shown in the Very Near Infrared (VNIR), where burned areas appear gray and black and healthy vegetation is red.

    Additionally, DigitalGlobe has activated its Open Data Program, which provides imagery to support recovery efforts in the wake of large-scale natural disasters. Pre- and post-wildfire imagery of the affected areas are available to emergency responders on the Santa Rosa wildfires page.

    Fountain Grove Golf Club in Santa Rosa, California, natural color. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe.)
    Fountain Grove Golf Club in Santa Rosa, California, natural color. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe.)
    Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, California, color-infrared. Santa Rosa, California. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe)
    Coffey Park in Santa Rosa, California, color-infrared. Santa Rosa, California. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe)
    The northwest fire line of the wildfire that devastated Santa Rosa, California, taken by satellite Oct. 10. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe)
    The northwest fire line of the wildfire that devastated Santa Rosa, California. SWIR image taken by satellite Oct. 10. (Satellite image ©2017 DigitalGlobe)
  • NOAA picks Black Swift sUAS for fire observation

    NOAA picks Black Swift sUAS for fire observation

    Aircraft to Provide Wildfire Measurements in Support of NOAA Fire Weather Forecasting

    The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has selected a small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) for wildfire measurements and observations in support of its FIREX field mission and the fire weather forecasting initiative.

    Black Swift Technologies will deliver to NOAA a tightly integrated system consisting of an airframe, avionics and multiple sensors capable of research-quality measurements of CO2, CO, aerosol, RH, p and T in wildfire plumes, as well as multispectral high-resolution maps of wildfires.

    The SuperSwift sUAS will be operated by the University of Colorado’s Integrated Remote & In Situ Sensing Program (IRISS) in close collaboration with NOAA.

    “One of the purposes of IRISS is to work with the science community to develop and deploy platforms which make primarily in situ measurements,” said Brian Argrow, IRISS director. “This naturally lead us to partnerships with NOAA on the science perspective, and to Black Swift Technologies for their sUAS technology and expertise. It’s a partnership that looks like a three-legged stool with the science interest of NOAA, the technology and engineering expertise of IRISS, and the unique sUAS platform designed by Black Swift Technologies, as the corresponding legs.”

    The FireFOX sUAS is based on Black Swift’s commercially available SuperSwift airframe and SwiftCore Flight Management System — designed to be cost-effective, powerful and easy to operate in the field.

    The SuperSwift is specifically engineered to meet the demands of high-altitude flights through strong winds and damaging airborne particulates typical of nomadic scientific field campaigns in harsh environments.

    The SuperSwift sUAS has a forward-located, spacious, interchangeable nose-cone payload bay. (Photo: Black Swift)

    “While there are many sUAS manufacturers for agencies like NOAA to consider, most are simply not suitable for scientific atmospheric measurements,” said Jack Elston, CEO of Black Swift Technologies.

    The SuperSwift addresses NOAA’s requirements for endurance and operational radius (> 2 hours and between 30 to 60 km) sufficient for fire observations, its payload capability (up to 5 pounds), and its unique forward-facing payload bay, “ideal for atmospheric sampling and for easy instrument package swapping,” Elston said.

    The ultimate goal of NightFOX is to perform nighttime in situ measurements of wildfire plumes and remote measurements of wildfire properties, with the measurement data used to improve fire weather forecasting.

    Because of safety concerns and dangers associated with nighttime operations, manned aircraft flights are limited to daytime operations. Ground observations using a mobile laboratory provide detailed chemical information on fire plumes, but lack information on plume spatial distribution to put the point measurements in context.

    UAS observations are the only technology capable of this task. sUAS observations can provide useful information for firefighting efforts by accurately detecting fire perimeter and identifying fire hotspots, but have not attempted to make measurements relevant to studying fire emissions or incorporate observations into fire forecast models.

    “Our proposed work, if successful, will significantly advance the integration of UAS-based observations of wildfires into fire-weather modeling and forecasting,” said Ru-Shan Gao, principal investigator, Chemical Sciences Division, Earth Systems Research Laboratory, NOAA.

    The collected data will also provide otherwise missing data for studying the impact of North American wildfires on the atmosphere and human health. It will ultimately support better land-management decisions and practices, contributing to NOAA’s core mission to advance understanding and prediction of the Earth system to enhance society’s ability to make effective decisions.

    IRISS, a pillar of the CU Boulder Grand Challenge, is a multi-disciplinary team that leads the design, development and deployment of novel remote and in-situ sensing systems to exploit mobility enabled by aerospace systems to enhance data collection from the ground, in the atmosphere and from
    space.

    With its partners, IRISS explores commercial opportunities and fosters discussions on the ethical, legal, and social policy implications of new technologies and big-data collection.

    The existence of a sUAS capable of carrying the necessary instruments routinely through harsh environments adds an invaluable contribution to the calibration and validation of data collected from ground- and satellite-based methods.

    The innovations of the SuperSwift, including the total sensor suite, can be used for scientific research by federal and state public agencies and other state-funded laboratories to collect data on coherent atmospheric structures such as smog, volcano plumes, wildfire smoke, chemical fires, forest humidity, and studying oil and gas field flares for calibration/validation of satellite measurements.

    “NOAA is interested in a UAS observational system (UASOS) that can use be used for fire-related measurements, and so in a sense what we want to know is when and where does the fire flow and ultimately what kind of fire and air quality will result regionally,” Gao said. “We want to monitor the fire and incorporate the remote and in situ measurements into a fire forecast model so ultimately we’ll be able to do better fire forecasts that will help firefighters better fight the fire and keep human and property losses to a minimum.”

  • Esri’s disaster recovery tools at work in Louisiana, California

    Esri technology has been in full force in Louisiana during both the search-and-rescue phase and cleanup and disaster recovery efforts following massive flooding in Baton Rouge. Esri’s ArcGis Online is providing a way to collect, monitor and report field activities to be sure all departments are on the same page using real time imagery, data and apps.

    In an emergency situation, location is a key component in response efforts — from maps showing affected areas to first responders; to where relief supplies are located; to evacuation routes and impending weather.

    Baton-Rouge-Esri-disaster-O
    The Esri Story Map references the locations of civil air patrol photos.

    Esri’s Disaster Response Program provides software support, data support, and consulting/technical support for active disasters. The program is available to any agency supporting a disaster, regardless of whether they are an Esri customer.

    Currently, the Esri Disaster Response Program is supporting the efforts to respond to the wildfires in California as well as the flooding in Louisiana, but the tools are called into action on countless disaster situations and are available at any time.

    For the flooding, a Public Information Map is updated continuously with multiple data streams such as social media and weather reports. There are also a Flooding Story Map and a Local Impact Map available. Similar resources are available for the wildfire emergency.