Global Fires 2015-2016 Visualizations

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    ID: 12667 Produced Video

    NASA Rainfall Data and Global Fire Weather

    June 28th, 2018
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    Additional footage courtesy of Greenpeace.Music: "Vulnerable Moment," John Ashton Thomas, Atmosphere Music Ltd.; "Inducing Waves," Ben Niblett and Jon Cotton, Atmosphere Music Ltd.Complete transcript available. || The Global Fire WEather Database (GFWED) integrates different weather factors influencing the likelihood of a vegetation fire starting and spreading. It is based on the Fire Weather Index (FWI) System, which tracks the dryness of three general fuel classes, and the potential behavior of a fire if it were to start. Each day, FWI values are calculated from global weather data, including satellite rainfall data from the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. The FWI System is the most widely used fire danger rating system in the world, and has been adopted for different boreal, temperate and tropical fire environments. GFWED provides a globally consistent fire weather dataset for fire researchers and managers to apply locally.The Fire Weather Index component is suitable as a general index of fire danger. Globally, shifts in continental-scale fire activity follow seasonal changes in the FWI. Over South America and Africa, regions of high FWI and active agricultural burning shift with the tropical rain belts, seen in the GPM precipitation overlay. Over North America and Eurasia, the FWI will ‘activate’ in the spring, and shows how week-to-week surges in fire activity can be driven by high FWI values. More information on GFWED and instructions on accessing the data are available from https://data.giss.nasa.gov/impacts/gfwed/ ||

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    ID: 12344 Produced Video

    World On Fire

    Aug. 18th, 2016
    (updated May 3rd, 2023)

    There’s always some place on Earth that’s burning. || The 2016 wildfire season is off to a blazing start. To date, more than 29,000 wildfires have burned over 2.6 million acres in the United States alone. In other parts of the world, hot and dry conditions fueled by El Niño have primed places like the southern Amazon for heavy wildfire activity. Scientists say the region is the driest it’s been in more than a decade. Using data collected by satellites, NASA monitors fires across the globe. The space-based views of actively burning fires help fire managers on the ground locate potentially hazardous blazes. The observations also aid researchers in tracking the spread of smoke and ash from fires, which can significantly impact air quality. Watch the video to see a data visualization showing fires detected from space over the course of a year. ||

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