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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