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NASA satellites are usually the first to detect a fire as it

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burns in a remote location.

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And the NASA scientists use those data from our satellites to

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understand how that fire has started,

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the way it burns through an ecosystem,

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the way in which the smoke that gets generated by those fires is

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transported

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all across the globe.

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Hi, my name is Doug Morton. I'm an earth scientist at NASA's

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Goddard Space Flight Center.

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And I use data from NASA satellites,

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aircraft and ground measurements to understand how fires are

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transforming our planet.

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And altogether our scientists are using data from the ground,

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the air and from satellites to put together the whole picture

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of how fires are part of our changing planet.

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When fire burns through natural vegetation, it sends up smoke.

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And some of that smoke

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has very small particles-- small enough to get trapped inside of

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our lungs.

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Changes in temperature and rainfall are part of what drives the

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risk of fire

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across many landscapes.

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Some areas are now hot enough that there really is no fire season

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anymore.

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Fire's a natural part of many ecosystems, but fire is also changing

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in direct response to the way in which we're managing our

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planet.

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Each summer we do see large wildfires across the western United

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States

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and the smoke from those fires can blow across not just North

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America,

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but as far away as Greenland, and the ice and snow covered areas

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where that

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smoke lands and darkens the snow and increases the way in which

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those ice caps are melting.

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Increases in temperature especially during the summer months for

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places like the United States make conditions hotter and

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drier and more prone to extreme wildfires.