[slate]
[slate] At NASA we like to think that we have the tallest
fire towers around. With our satellites more than 20
orbiting the Earth right now giving us a unique perspective and we're often the
first to detect a wildfire when it starts in a remote location. Other
satellite sensors then allow us to track the smoke as it blows from those fires
and impacts air quality and people living hundreds or even thousands
of miles away. [slate]
[slate]
This summer, NASA scientists are spread out across the western United States and Alaska
making sure they can understand the way in which fires as they burn on the ground change
ecosystems; the way that the smoke that gets released from those fires changes our
atmosphere and impacts air quality. And so we have airplanes flying through smoke
plumes. Field teams on the ground measuring the changes in fuels
before and after a fire. And our whole science team working then to
connect those measurements with what we can observe from space. [slate]
[slate]
[slate] Warmer and dryer conditions set the stage
for more extreme and long-lasting fires. In many places
warming temperatures have actually eliminated the fire season all together,
as large wildfires can occur at any time during the year. In other places
those warmer temperatures allow the fuels, and grasses and trees to
become much dryer and much more prone to fire. And when they do burn
those fires are more difficult to put out. And so hotter daytime
and nighttime temperatures both have an impact on the way in which
fires are changing our planet.
[slate]
Someplace is burning right now. And NASA satellites
are keeping an eye on those fires as we detect their
fire, the smoke and the way in which they are changing those ecosystems
Fires are a natural part of many ecosystems especially in savannahs.
Fires are also happening more frequently in places where warmer and dryer
conditions have increased the rise of fire, and where humans are
actually the most common source of fires worldwide.
[slate]
As conditions get warmer and dryer, and this summer actually
last July, the warmest month ever recorded
as we take the temperature of our planet on a whole. Those conditions
allow areas that would normally be too wet to burn to become more
fire-prone, and areas that were already at risk of fire to become
bone-dry and at risk of a more extreme wildfire that's more difficult
to suppress. So our changing planet has directly impacted the way
in which fires are occurring throughout a longer fire season and in a more extreme
and fast-moving fires that are more difficult to suppress.
[slate]
You can go to NASA.gov/fires to track
NASA scientists in the field this summer as they learn more about the way in which
fires are changing ecosystems. How smoke from fires is impacting air quality
and our ability to forecast the risk of air quaility alerts across the United States.
And how we all link that together with the data we can take from our satellites.