NASA Explorers S3|EP1: Seeing Through Smoke

Narration: LK Ward

Transcript:

1

00:00:01,400 --> 00:00:02,880

NASA.

2

00:00:02,880 --> 00:00:07,280

The Agency that landed on the moon, launched the Hubble Space Telescope,

3

00:00:07,280 --> 00:00:12,170

and took the first rover selfie? Yeah, that NASA.

4

00:00:12,170 --> 00:00:14,720

We also chase fires.

5

00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:17,450

6

00:00:17,450 --> 00:00:21,740

NASA Explorers

7

00:00:21,740 --> 00:00:22,920

8

00:00:22,920 --> 00:00:26,060

Introducing Season Three

9

00:00:26,060 --> 00:00:28,320

Fires

10

00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:32,400

This team is in the middle of a recovery operation.

11

00:00:32,400 --> 00:00:35,570

The California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection

12

00:00:35,570 --> 00:00:39,250

is using NASA satellite data to map the path of destruction

13

00:00:39,250 --> 00:00:41,860

after the 2018 Camp Fire.

14

00:00:41,860 --> 00:00:44,740

NASA has the tallest fire towers.

15

00:00:44,740 --> 00:00:46,790

With our satellites looking down from space,

16

00:00:46,790 --> 00:00:49,130

catching images every day and every night,

17

00:00:49,130 --> 00:00:53,500

were often the first to detect and then share information about fires,

18

00:00:53,500 --> 00:00:56,250

especially fires that are burning in remote locations.

19

00:00:56,250 --> 00:00:59,900

That's where we can come in and provide a much better picture.

20

00:00:59,900 --> 00:01:03,150

and so I have NASA MODIS and VIIRS stuff

21

00:01:03,150 --> 00:01:05,460

which we always use on Google Earth

22

00:01:05,460 --> 00:01:07,370

You can kinda see the streets here.

23

00:01:07,370 --> 00:01:09,490

This is a neighborhood - totally burned down.

24

00:01:09,490 --> 00:01:14,560

A NASA rapid response grant allowed the team to study the impact of the Camp Fire

25

00:01:14,560 --> 00:01:17,580

just four months after it was contained.

26

00:01:17,580 --> 00:01:23,240

NASA provides crucial tools for both first responders and fire recovery managers.

27

00:01:23,240 --> 00:01:28,260

But there are even bigger implications for understanding the future of fire.

28

00:01:28,260 --> 00:01:33,810

The information we collect from satellites helps us understand not just when are where fires are burning,

29

00:01:33,810 --> 00:01:38,640

but what kind of changes they’re making to the ecosystems on the ground and our atmosphere up above.

30

00:01:38,640 --> 00:01:41,780

I’m Doug Morton and I’m a Earth System Scientist,

31

00:01:41,780 --> 00:01:44,050

here at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.

32

00:01:44,050 --> 00:01:45,100

33

00:01:45,100 --> 00:01:49,760

Doug is one NASA’s go-to scientists when it comes to making sense of how fires

34

00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:52,420

effect people and ecosystems.

35

00:01:52,420 --> 00:01:55,820

You need three things to make a fire.

36

00:01:55,820 --> 00:02:01,440

You something to burn, you need climate conditions that allow that fire to start and grow large,

37

00:02:01,440 --> 00:02:03,720

and you need a source of ignition.

38

00:02:03,720 --> 00:02:06,590

Today, the source of ignition is almost always humans.

39

00:02:06,590 --> 00:02:08,500

40

00:02:08,500 --> 00:02:12,940

We can use information about rainfall and climate to anticipate landscapes

41

00:02:12,940 --> 00:02:14,730

that might be come flammable in the future.

42

00:02:14,730 --> 00:02:20,620

That kind of predictive power, how we harness our understanding of the Earth’s system, has really helped us move forward

43

00:02:20,620 --> 00:02:25,170

in terms of anticipating and minimizing the risk to landscapes that might be flammable

44

00:02:25,170 --> 00:02:29,000

next week, or even next season.

45

00:02:29,000 --> 00:02:32,020

But the real work of science, may be something that

46

00:02:32,020 --> 00:02:35,030

many people don’t have a lot of visibility into.

47

00:02:35,030 --> 00:02:39,790

When we talk about taking a team of scientists and putting them into the field,

48

00:02:39,790 --> 00:02:45,420

that can mean weeks, months, or even years of collecting data.

49

00:02:45,420 --> 00:02:50,280

The first time I spent in the Amazon was in the early 2000’s,

50

00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:54,630

just at the peak of deforestation rates in Brazil.

51

00:02:54,630 --> 00:02:59,110

And I don’t think anyone could make it to the end of the frontier landscape,

52

00:02:59,110 --> 00:03:05,780

standing at the edge of a road and looking in all directions and seeing towering columns of black smoke

53

00:03:05,780 --> 00:03:10,390

and not feel like there was an opportunity to be careful with our planet.

54

00:03:10,390 --> 00:03:11,400

55

00:03:11,400 --> 00:03:13,850

Fires have been burning across the southern Amazon,

56

00:03:13,850 --> 00:03:16,550

an area I’ve been working in for the last twenty years.

57

00:03:16,550 --> 00:03:20,330

And so, people have looked to me to explain is this normal?

58

00:03:20,330 --> 00:03:24,510

One of the things I can do as a NASA scientist is, I can go back in time.

59

00:03:24,510 --> 00:03:29,210

Our data record allows us to literally compare actives that are happening everyday

60

00:03:29,210 --> 00:03:33,710

with these same days and same kinds of conditions, previous years.

61

00:03:33,710 --> 00:03:35,160

62

00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:38,870

From space, we’re mapping fires across the entire planet

63

00:03:38,870 --> 00:03:41,950

and that often takes us to remote locations.

64

00:03:41,950 --> 00:03:45,000

And the best way to partner and understand those remote locations is

65

00:03:45,000 --> 00:03:48,690

with people who live and work in those communities.

66

00:03:48,690 --> 00:03:50,550

So, that’s what we did.

67

00:03:50,550 --> 00:03:56,920

This year NASA is sending a blitz of missions into the field and you’re coming with us.

68

00:03:56,920 --> 00:04:02,230

Climate change is shepherding in a new era of fires that burn hotter and longer.

69

00:04:02,230 --> 00:04:07,180

And our pilots. Our partners. Our scientist and engineers?

70

00:04:07,180 --> 00:04:08,160

71

00:04:08,160 --> 00:04:11,030

They’ve come prepared to meet the challenge.

72

00:04:11,030 --> 00:04:13,150

NASA Explorers

73

00:04:13,150 --> 00:04:15,490

74

00:04:15,490 --> 00:04:19,570

On the next episode of NASA Explorers

75

00:04:19,570 --> 00:04:24,650

Some of my days have been 14, 16 and 18 hours.

76

00:04:24,650 --> 00:04:30,070

We don't hesitate to meet challenging conditions.

77

00:04:30,070 --> 00:04:33,100

You know, you can tolerate a lot for a day or two.

78

00:04:33,100 --> 00:04:36,080

Episode Two: Follow that Plume!

79

00:04:36,080 --> 00:04:40,256