Enhancing our Nation s Wildfire Management Capabilities Through Application of NASA Science and Technology

Transcription

1 Enhancing our Nation s Wildfire Management Capabilities Through Application of NASA Science and Technology Vince Ambrosia Earth Science Division. Biospherics Branch NASA-Ames Research Center 2nd Annual California Aerospace Week March 2013 State Capitol Building, Sacramento, CA.

2 Importance of Wildfires in California / Nation CA Five-Year Fire Averages ( ): Annually 6,687 Fires Acres Burned: 785,816 ac. National 10-Year Averages: ( ): Annually: 74,551 Fires Acres Burned: 7,286,123 ac year trend of increasing mega-fires (more acreage consumed)!! Population infringement at the Wildland-Urban Interface (WUI) results in increased fire threat to infrastructure, property and lives. Fire management agencies (USFS, CALFIRE, BLM, etc.) need improved information to manage / mitigate fire effects at WUI and in our public lands. NASA working in partnership with CALFIRE and USFS to find solutions to improve capacity and reduce data access barriers.

3 Wildfire Observations: Spaceborne Assets Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) Repeatable, 2-4 observations a day 1 km pixel spatial resolution (thermal) NASA-developed fire detection product (Rapid Response), operational by USFS; Used to provide synoptic fire event information in U.S. Limitations: Too coarse for tactical use; Too infrequent for tactical use

4 NASA Airborne Wildfire Support Heritage 1970 s early 2000 s NASA-ARC collaboration with CA to support disaster events with asneeded / available airborne sensor data (agreements date to mid-1970 s). NASA Earth Science Research Aircraft with thermal sensing systems supported over 100 fires in period with digital imagery on fire locations NASA C130 Supported Oakland Hills Fire Supported Yellowstone NP complex NASA U2 / ER-2 Supported numerous CA fires Yellowstone NP complex

5 NASA Wildfire Research and Applications Partnership (WRAP) Partners: NASA, USDA-Forest Service, CALFIRE, National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), BLM, CSU-Monterey Bay, UC-Santa Cruz, Industry: General Atomics, Xiomas, Inc., Objectives: Evaluate, test, mature and implement into operational utility: emerging technology, instrumentation, models, and airborne systems (UAS) to dramatically improve capabilities to observe / manage wildfires. Identify the capability / technology gaps; Mature high technology readiness level (TRL) capabilities to fill those gaps. Gaps: Time-critical (real-time) data collection, modeling and delivery. Long-duration platforms to allow multiple data observations / lingering COP system to integrate disparate data sets for battlefield assessment of wildfire incidents Improved sensor systems to reliably gather pertinent fire information.

6 Western States UAS Fire Imaging Missions California Wildfire Support 2006: Esperanza Fire 2007: Zaca, Tar, Babcock, Colby, Butler, North, Fairmont, Grouse, Lick, Bald, Moonlight, So. CA Firestorm: Harris, McCoy, Witch, Poomacha, Horno / Ammo, Slide, Grass Valley, Buckweed, Ranch, Magic, Santiago, Rice 2008: Piute, Clover, Silver, North Mtn., American River, Cub Complex, Canyon Complex, Basin, Gap, Camp, Cascadel, Hidden 2009: Station and Piute Fires (post-fire assessment) 2011: Lion, Eagle, Great, Coe Prescribed Science Burn 2007 NASA Ikhana UAS 2008 AMS Sensor Ku satellite antenna link NASA-DFRC

7 NASA Ikhana Autonomous Modular Sensor Sees through smoke Collaborative Decision Environment Real time Information Direct to First Responders

8 NASA Wildfire Efforts: Research to Operations Operational Capabilities Derived from Partnership CDE (Used in various incidents by USFS, CALFIRE and others); On-Board Processing to derive real-time products (employed by NIFC- NIROPS aircraft / sensors); Real-time data delivery via air / ground comms. link (AirCell used by NIFC- NIROPS); Sensor loan of AMS from NASA to USFS to support wildfire observations in Operated on a Citation jet. Continued evaluation of suas to support fire teams and augment manned aircraft assets. USFS UAS Working Group to evaluate and develop operational guidelines for UAS use. These technology adoptions have improved national wildfire decision support systems, resulting in significant time-savings in intelligence delivery, and simplified the analysis of the data

9 NASA Sensor on USFS Aircraft: Supporting National Operations in 2013!! USFS Citation Jet AMS Instrument Install 1 March 2013 First Test Flight Collections Salt Lake City, UT

10 EXTRA SLIDES

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