NASA’s New Scientific Breakdown of Dramatic Caldor and Dixie Fires

Narration: Kathleen Gaeta

Transcript:

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You're looking at the Caldor

fire, which broke out just south

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of Grizzly Flats, California and

burn from August 15 to October 6

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2021. With upwards of two dozen

Earth-observing satellites,

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detecting and tracking fires is

an important part of NASA's

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purview. But this visualization

gives us a detailed look at the

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past. NASA's latest generation

of fire-tracking satellites

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observes the entire planet twice

per day. Scientists use the

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thermal infrared images from

each overpass to identify the

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active fire front as well as

track the behavior of large

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fires.

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It's really important for us to

be able to track fires as they

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change over time, because the

rate of spread, the intensity,

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and the total area that burns

all contribute to the impact

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from fires on ecosystems,

communities, air quality and

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greenhouse gas concentrations in

the atmosphere.

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The yellow outlines you see

represent the active fire lines,

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where the brightest shade of

yellow shows the location of the

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current active fire lines. The

gold lines show the position of

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the fire lines as they were 1224

and 36 hours earlier. The red

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dots indicate active fire

detections, and the gray

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sections indicate total area

burned.

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The Caldor fire started in the

middle of August and burned for

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almost eight weeks. But we know

that most of the expansion

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happened in just the first two

weeks, after which point, most

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of the active fire detections

were not at the perimeter of the

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fire as expanding fire fronts,

but actually within the

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perimeter, showing areas where

there was residual smoldering or

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flaming activity.

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The latest generation of

satellites are a partnership

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between NASA and NOAA. These new

instruments have higher spatial

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resolution that helps them

better detect fires. This also

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allows scientists to better

locate the areas of actively

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burning fire and to be more

sensitive to areas of smaller

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fire activity, including some of

the smoldering fire activity

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that would not have been

detected by previous satellites

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from NASA or other agencies.

Here we can see the Dixie fire,

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located in Northern California.

Better geolocation also allow

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scientists and fire managers to

be more confident about where

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the fire is actually located on

the ground.

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Overall, the goal for our team

is to be able to deliver active

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fire detection and tracking

information in a way that helps

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link NASA satellite capabilities

with the needs of stakeholders

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on the ground. These

stakeholders include fire

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managers who track and respond

to fires in real time, and air

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quality managers responsible for

forecasting and reporting how

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fire emissions create unhealthy

air quality for communities

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downwind from large fire events.

These data also help support new

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science. By tracking the fire

every 12 hours, we can better

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pinpoint the conditions under

which dangerous fires could

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occur and better anticipate the

likely impact on ecosystems from

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hotter faster and longer fires

in a warming world