1 00:00:00,190 --> 00:00:04,190 [slate] 2 00:00:04,210 --> 00:00:08,220 [slate] 3 00:00:08,240 --> 00:00:12,390 [slate] At NASA we like to think that we have the tallest 4 00:00:12,410 --> 00:00:16,470 fire towers around. With our satellites more than 20 5 00:00:16,490 --> 00:00:20,590 orbiting the Earth right now giving us a unique perspective and we're often the 6 00:00:20,610 --> 00:00:24,720 first to detect a wildfire when it starts in a remote location. Other 7 00:00:24,740 --> 00:00:28,870 satellite sensors then allow us to track the smoke as it blows from those fires 8 00:00:28,890 --> 00:00:33,030 and impacts air quality and people living hundreds or even thousands 9 00:00:33,050 --> 00:00:37,100 of miles away. [slate] 10 00:00:37,120 --> 00:00:41,270 [slate] 11 00:00:41,290 --> 00:00:45,450 This summer, NASA scientists are spread out across the western United States and Alaska 12 00:00:45,470 --> 00:00:49,630 making sure they can understand the way in which fires as they burn on the ground change 13 00:00:49,650 --> 00:00:53,800 ecosystems; the way that the smoke that gets released from those fires changes our 14 00:00:53,820 --> 00:00:57,970 atmosphere and impacts air quality. And so we have airplanes flying through smoke 15 00:00:57,990 --> 00:01:01,980 plumes. Field teams on the ground measuring the changes in fuels 16 00:01:02,000 --> 00:01:06,010 before and after a fire. And our whole science team working then to 17 00:01:06,030 --> 00:01:10,040 connect those measurements with what we can observe from space. [slate] 18 00:01:10,060 --> 00:01:14,060 [slate] 19 00:01:14,080 --> 00:01:18,250 [slate] Warmer and dryer conditions set the stage 20 00:01:18,270 --> 00:01:22,430 for more extreme and long-lasting fires. In many places 21 00:01:22,450 --> 00:01:26,620 warming temperatures have actually eliminated the fire season all together, 22 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:30,650 as large wildfires can occur at any time during the year. In other places 23 00:01:30,670 --> 00:01:34,690 those warmer temperatures allow the fuels, and grasses and trees to 24 00:01:34,710 --> 00:01:38,740 become much dryer and much more prone to fire. And when they do burn 25 00:01:38,760 --> 00:01:42,830 those fires are more difficult to put out. And so hotter daytime 26 00:01:42,850 --> 00:01:46,910 and nighttime temperatures both have an impact on the way in which 27 00:01:46,930 --> 00:01:50,960 fires are changing our planet. 28 00:01:50,980 --> 00:01:55,040 [slate] 29 00:01:55,060 --> 00:01:59,110 Someplace is burning right now. And NASA satellites 30 00:01:59,130 --> 00:02:03,190 are keeping an eye on those fires as we detect their 31 00:02:03,210 --> 00:02:07,280 fire, the smoke and the way in which they are changing those ecosystems 32 00:02:07,300 --> 00:02:11,390 Fires are a natural part of many ecosystems especially in savannahs. 33 00:02:11,410 --> 00:02:15,510 Fires are also happening more frequently in places where warmer and dryer 34 00:02:15,530 --> 00:02:19,670 conditions have increased the rise of fire, and where humans are 35 00:02:19,690 --> 00:02:23,710 actually the most common source of fires worldwide. 36 00:02:23,730 --> 00:02:27,740 [slate] 37 00:02:27,760 --> 00:02:31,930 As conditions get warmer and dryer, and this summer actually 38 00:02:31,950 --> 00:02:35,970 last July, the warmest month ever recorded 39 00:02:35,990 --> 00:02:40,030 as we take the temperature of our planet on a whole. Those conditions 40 00:02:40,050 --> 00:02:44,100 allow areas that would normally be too wet to burn to become more 41 00:02:44,120 --> 00:02:48,200 fire-prone, and areas that were already at risk of fire to become 42 00:02:48,220 --> 00:02:52,290 bone-dry and at risk of a more extreme wildfire that's more difficult 43 00:02:52,310 --> 00:02:56,440 to suppress. So our changing planet has directly impacted the way 44 00:02:56,460 --> 00:03:00,590 in which fires are occurring throughout a longer fire season and in a more extreme 45 00:03:00,610 --> 00:03:04,600 and fast-moving fires that are more difficult to suppress. 46 00:03:04,620 --> 00:03:04,630 [slate] 47 00:03:04,650 --> 00:03:08,650 [slate] 48 00:03:08,670 --> 00:03:12,840 You can go to NASA.gov/fires to track 49 00:03:12,860 --> 00:03:17,040 NASA scientists in the field this summer as they learn more about the way in which 50 00:03:17,060 --> 00:03:21,230 fires are changing ecosystems. How smoke from fires is impacting air quality 51 00:03:21,250 --> 00:03:25,270 and our ability to forecast the risk of air quaility alerts across the United States. 52 00:03:25,290 --> 00:03:29,606 And how we all link that together with the data we can take from our satellites.