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The first thing you should know,
is that wildfires require

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Every day, NASA is able to detect thousands

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of new fires from space.

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Along with our partners at NOAA,

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we use both polar orbiting and geostationary satellites

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to get insight as to the structure and evolution of a fire.

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Geostationary satellites remain fixed in relationship to the globe,

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giving us new images of one hemisphere every 5 to 15 minutes.

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However, the resolution is usually coarser

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than that of polar orbiting satellites,

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which will pass over a fire twice per day.

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From over 500 miles above Earth,

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these orbiting satellites will detect and characterize thermal anomalies:

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locations on the Earth's surface that are hotter than their neighbors,

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that can indicate burning associated with new

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or existing fire events.

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Importantly, these instruments can detect fires at night -

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a time when wildfires typically lay down and smolder.

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Since the majority of large wildfires lasts for multiple days,

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the ability to track them both day and night is instrumental

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to helping land managers combat the blazes.