USDA Forest Service Fire Remote Sensing Program Update Global Observation of Forest and Land Cover Dynamics Fire Mapping and Monitoring Implementation Team Meeting July 29 31, 2014 Everett Hinkley/Brad Quayle USDA Forest Service, Remote Sensing Applications Center http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/
Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) National Forest System Deputy Area; Engineering Staff National Technical Center Located in Salt Lake City, Utah Mission: Provide the Forest Service with the knowledge, tools, and technical services required to use remote sensing data to meet the agency s stewardship responsibilities.
RSAC Support to Interagency Fire Management RSAC provides remote sensing/geospatial support to all phases of fire management Wildfire Management Phase Preparedness Detection and Response Post-Fire Assessment Functions Fire intelligence and fire risk assessment data Strategic and tactical fire detection, monitoring & mapping Burn severity mapping & characterization Activities National Interagency Coordination Center Support Predictive Services Program Support Tactical Fire Mapping Support UAS Technology Evaluation/Integration Active Fire Mapping/Satellite DR Operations Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Support Reforestation Planning & Prioritization Support Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS)
Autonomous Modular Sensor (AMS) 16 band multispectral scanner Multi-mission capability Developed by NASA Ames and UC Santa Cruz Used extensively since 2006 for wildfire mapping & cal/val activities Western States Fire Missions Targeted active fire/post-fire incident support USFS tactical fire support operations
AMS Timeline First Test Flight Data From AMS on Citation, March 2013 AMS integrated on Altair; flies Esperanza Fire, Oct 2006 AMS flies No. CA Lightning Storm Wildfires, Summer 2008 AMS flies Station Fire Post-Fire Assessment, Nov 2009 AMS Integrated on NASA B200 KA, December 2010 CBP Predator B 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 AMS integrated on Ikhana; flies four Western States Fire Missions covering eight states and +20 fires, summer 2007 AMS flies So. CA Firestorm missions; Oct. 2007 AMS flies Los Conches NM Wildfire & 2 So. CA Wildfires AMS Integrated on USFS Citation jet Courtesy of V. Ambrosia
Forest Service AMS Testing/Integration Limited testing/integration flights between late March/early May 2013 Testing/integration flights March through late May 2014 Completed flights for 11 target areas 3 wildfire incidents (multiple days) Mission objectives: Forest Service IR technician training Refinement of onboard processing (OBP) system for NRT data production/delivery Remote control of sensor from the ground
N144Z Specifications 144Z: Cessna Citation Bravo 149Z Beechcraft 200 Super King Air Cessna Citation Bravo Primary Mission Infrared Fire Mapping (April October) AirCell Datalink Average 204 Kbs downlink Continuous coverage CONUS at 10,000 AGL Sensor Bay Port Side blister Opening 18 in long 15 wide Sensor bay 24 in long 17 wide
144Z AMS Installation
Citation Performance Boundaries Cruise Speed Max Altitude 380 kts 45,000 ft (13,700 m) Min Safe Acquisition 120 kts This creates issues with using the AMS Max AMS Velocity/Height = 11.1 Minimum 10,000 ft/3,050m AGL 7.6 meter pixel 3.07 nautical mile swath width (3.5 statute miles/5.6 kilometers)
Prescribed Fire: Rocky Canyon, Boise NF April 11, 2014 Planned ~1,500ac/600ha burn AMS fire product (CCRS) CIR visual image (bands 7,5,3) AMS hot spots enhanced for visualization ~3km
Prescribed Fire: Rocky Canyon, Boise NF April 11, 2014 Planned ~1,500ac/600ha burn AMS fire product (CCRS) CIR visual image (bands 7,5,3) AMS hot spots enhanced for visualization AMS Overflight at ~1945 UTC VIIRS Overpass at ~2046 UTC VIIRS I-Band 375m Product (Schroeder) VIIRS-AF 750m Product (NASA-Direct Readout Lab)
Prescribed Fire: Rocky Canyon, Boise NF April 11, 2014 Planned ~1,500ac/600ha burn AMS fire product (CCRS) CIR visual image (bands 7,5,3) AMS hot spots enhanced for visualization AMS Overflight at ~1945 UTC VIIRS Overpass at ~2046 UTC VIIRS I-Band 375m Product (Schroeder) VIIRS-AF 750m Product (NASA-Direct Readout Lab)
Ongoing USFS AMS Activities Testing/integration flights for AMS control from ground Fall 2014 Identify 3 rd USFS platform for the AMS Proposal to F&AM for N182Z Address requisite platform upgrades Sensor port/pod installation SatCom system installation Demonstrate value to provide multi-mission support Tactical fire support surge aircraft; daytime fire missions Post-fire/post-storm assessment Forest health monitoring Cal/Val of satellite products
RSAC X-Band Direct Readout Ground Station Location: Salt Lake City, Utah; 111.949 o W 40.722 o N History: MODIS direct broadcast data collection since 2002 VIIRS direct broadcast data collection since 2012 Antenna: 2.4 meter X-band antenna; 3-axis SeaTel Model 9497A-7 Radome enclosure RSAC X-band antenna in radome
Direct Readout Network Forest Service area of interest for fire detection and monitoring UAF OSU RSAC SSEC GSFC MODIS/VIIRS Ground Station Network USDA Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center (RSAC) University of Wisconsin Space Science Engineering Center (SSEC) University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) Oregon State University (OSU) NASA GSFC Direct Readout Lab (GSFC) NASA LANCE/FIRMS provides global MODIS coverage; backs up ground station network
Active Fire Mapping (AFM) Program (http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us) Developed and implemented at RSAC in 2001 Coordination w/nasa, NOAA & space agency science teams Operational near real-time (NRT) satellite data/mapping/visualization products for wildfire management Value-added products All lands and ownerships in U.S. and Canada Facilitates wildfire decision support Prioritize allocation of fire suppression assets Focus tactical airborne reconnaissance assets Key data input to several fire-related operational applications
AFM Active Fire Detection Data Products/Sources MODIS (MOD14) - NASA-DRL/IPOPP VIIRS (VIIRS-AF) - NASA-DRL/IPOPP VIIRS (I Band) - Schroeder GOES (WF-ABBA) - NOAA NESDIS AVHRR (FIMMA) - NOAA NESDIS
Transitioning From MODIS to VIIRS Carlton Complex July July 21, 21, 2014 2014 Aqua MODIS VIIRS-AF I MOD14 Band CREFL 21:03 20:56 UTC UTC
AFM Geospatial Products Mapping/Visualization Products JPG/PDF fire detection maps Interactive fire detection map viewers Google Earth fire detection KMLs/KMZs Detection analysis/summary products Imagery/Geospatial Data Products Daily satellite imagery subsets Fire detection GIS datasets WMS/WFS fire detection services
AFM Clients/Stakeholders Used at all levels of the FS, DOI agencies, state/local agencies and general public Strategic scale fire monitoring, planning and response Essential data for fire decision support applications Informs the public on ongoing fire activity Provides data/information that are in high demand Oct 2012-Sept 2014 (FY13): >24 million user sessions and > 16TB of downloads Oct 2013-June 2014: >16.8 million user sessions and > 9.7TB of downloads
New Technology Development by AFM Partners Development of spatially refined active fire detection data from new sensors VIIRS (I Bands) Landsat 8 Sentinel-2 NASA A35 Wildfire Project Dr. Wilfrid Schroeder Increase capabilities to meet strategic and tactical fire management information needs Transfer VIIRS I Band detection algorithm to IPOPP framework Benefit broader DR user community
New Technology Development by AFM Partners Goal: Detection and initial confirmation of new ignitions: rapid, low cost, reliable, systematic UC DAVIS: USFS RSAC: NASA Ames: Alex Koltunov, Susan Ustin, Elaine Prins Brad Quayle, Brian Schwind Vince Ambrosia Faster initial detection of new incidents Fewer false new incidents Improved geolocation precision Alpha version GOES EFD ver. 0.3 ready: detects new ignitions faster than WF ABBA can provide the earliest alarm for many incidents simulated real time Advancing to a Beta version: Algorithm optimization System Integration Component level tests AFM interface
Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) Forest Service fast track emergency assessment Fires exceeding thresholds for size, severity and/or soil resource damage Range from 100s of acres to 100s of thousands of acres in size Straw waddles on Pike-San Isabel NF Rapidly assess fire effects on the soil and watershed hydrologic function Prescribe and implement emergency stabilization measures to mitigate potential hazards to: Life Property Long-term soil productivity Water quality Natural resources BAER data analysis and plan development BAER response plan required within 7 days of fire containment
BAER Imagery Support Program Overview RSAC provides rapid delivery of imagery and derived products to BAER teams Emergency assessment; support provided at or immediately after fire containment BARC Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC), preliminary vegetation burn severity, based on dnbr/dndvi assessment BAER teams use BARC with field observations and other spatial data to generate a soil burn severity map BARC >900 requests supported since 2001 (>20 million acres/8.1 million ha) Soil Burn Severity
BAER Imagery Support Program Leveraged Sensors Sensor Platform Type Spatial Resolution (Reflectance Bands) Temporal Resolution (per instrument) Data Source Landsat 8 OLI Polar orbiting 30m 16 days NASA/USGS EROS Landsat 7 ETM + Polar orbiting 30m 16 days NASA/USGS EROS Landsat 5 TM (Decommissioned) Polar orbiting 30m 16 days NASA/USGS EROS EO-1 ALI Polar orbiting 30m 2-3 days (pointable) SPOT 4 (Decommissioned) Polar orbiting 20m 2-3 days (pointable) SPOT 5 Polar orbiting 10m/20m 2-3 days (pointable) NASA/USGS EROS USGS EROS/HDDS USGS EROS/HDDS SPOT 6/7 Polar orbiting 6m Daily (pointable) USGS EROS/HDDS DEIMOS-1 and UK DMC Autonomous Modular Sensor Polar orbiting 22m 2-3 days USDA Foreign Agriculture Service - Satellite Image Archive Airborne Variable -- NASA/USFS
Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) Map the location, extent and associated burn severity of all large fires on all lands in the United States since 1984 >1,000ac/404ha (western U.S.); > 500ac/202ha (eastern U.S.) Leverages Landsat TM/ETM + /OLI data record Sponsored by the interagency Wildland Fire Leadership Council One element of a strategy to monitor the effectiveness of national fire management policies Jointly conducted by RSAC and USGS EROS Data Center Landsat NBR Pre-fire dnbr Burn Severity 6/8/2005 Difference Post-fire 6/14/2007 Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) NBR = (NIR SWIR) / (NIR + SWIR) Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dnbr) dnbr = Pre NBR Post NBR
MTBS Geospatial Deliverables Geospatial data: Imagery and burn severity data on all large fires 30m Landsat imagery subsets 30m thematic and continuous severity layers Burn scar boundaries/fire occurrence data Vector layers w/attributes Thematic and feature level metadata Burn severity analysis summaries: Stratified by vegetation type, administrative ownership, etc. Web-based delivery system: http://www.mtbs.gov Geospatial data delivery tools Visualization products (Maps, Google Earth KMZs) Interactive severity data analysis tools Burn Severity Indices Thematic Burn Severity Unburned to Low Low Moderate High
MTBS Fire Mapping Production Status 17,936 fires completed 133 million acres 53.8 million hectares ~40,000 fire records analyzed
MTBS and USFS International Programs (IP) Recent IP-sponsored burn severity mapping support activities with international partners Bhutan Zambia (Kafue NP)
Comments/Questions? Contact Information: Everett Hinkley ehinkley@fs.fed.us National Remote Sensing Program Manager Brad Quayle bquayle@fs.fed.us Program Leader - Rapid Disturbance Assessment & Service USDA Forest Service, Remote Sensing Applications Center http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/