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[slate]

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[slate]

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[slate] At NASA we like to think that we have the tallest

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fire towers around. With our satellites more than 20

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orbiting the Earth right now giving us a unique perspective and we're often the

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first to detect a wildfire when it starts in a remote location. Other

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satellite sensors then allow us to track the smoke as it blows from those fires

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and impacts air quality and people living hundreds or even thousands

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of miles away. [slate]

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[slate]

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This summer, NASA scientists are spread out across the western United States and Alaska

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making sure they can understand the way in which fires as they burn on the ground change

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ecosystems; the way that the smoke that gets released from those fires changes our

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atmosphere and impacts air quality. And so we have airplanes flying through smoke

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plumes. Field teams on the ground measuring the changes in fuels

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before and after a fire. And our whole science team working then to

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connect those measurements with what we can observe from space. [slate]

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[slate]

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[slate] Warmer and dryer conditions set the stage

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for more extreme and long-lasting fires. In many places

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warming temperatures have actually eliminated the fire season all together,

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as large wildfires can occur at any time during the year. In other places

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those warmer temperatures allow the fuels, and grasses and trees to

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become much dryer and much more prone to fire. And when they do burn

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those fires are more difficult to put out. And so hotter daytime

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and nighttime temperatures both have an impact on the way in which

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fires are changing our planet.

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[slate]

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Someplace is burning right now. And NASA satellites

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are keeping an eye on those fires as we detect their

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fire, the smoke and the way in which they are changing those ecosystems

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Fires are a natural part of many ecosystems especially in savannahs.

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Fires are also happening more frequently in places where warmer and dryer

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conditions have increased the rise of fire, and where humans are

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actually the most common source of fires worldwide.

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[slate]

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As conditions get warmer and dryer, and this summer actually

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last July, the warmest month ever recorded

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as we take the temperature of our planet on a whole. Those conditions

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allow areas that would normally be too wet to burn to become more

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fire-prone, and areas that were already at risk of fire to become

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bone-dry and at risk of a more extreme wildfire that's more difficult

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to suppress. So our changing planet has directly impacted the way

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in which fires are occurring throughout a longer fire season and in a more extreme

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and fast-moving fires that are more difficult to suppress.

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[slate]

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[slate]

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You can go to NASA.gov/fires to track

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NASA scientists in the field this summer as they learn more about the way in which

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fires are changing ecosystems. How smoke from fires is impacting air quality

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and our ability to forecast the risk of air quaility alerts across the United States.

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And how we all link that together with the data we can take from our satellites.