Taking the Wild out of Wildfire   
       
   Dec 1, 2015:  Wildland fires in the U.S. torch an average of 7 million acres   
   of land each year. The western U.S. is one of the worst wildland fire   
   `hotspots' on Earth. In the western states, drought and heat are the perfect   
   ingredients to make wildfires wilder. The hot, dry conditions make bone-dry   
   fuel out of plants and trees, and winds can sweep a fire along as fast as 14   
   miles an hour.   
       
   A new NASA-funded tool is taking some of the `wild' out of wildfires by making   
   it possible for U.S. fire managers to better spot and track fires.   
       
   http://tinyurl.com/zzw8suv   
       
   The new tool uses high-resolution data from a special sensor on the Suomi   
   National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) satellite. Past satellite images of   
   wildfires have shown where fires are burning. But except for the largest   
   fires, they don't show clearly where the devouring flames are headed. Images   
   from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on NPP are almost   
   three times more detailed -- about 1,200 foot resolution vs 3,280 foot   
   resolution.   
       
   This means officials can detect and map even relatively small fires and track   
   their progression in much finer detail. Fire managers can better target their   
   attack before a fire morphs into an out-of-control inferno incinerating   
   everything in its path.   
       
   The VIIRS data can be used with a state-of-the-art weather-fire model to   
   predict 12-18 hours in advance of how a fire will shift direction based on   
   weather and land conditions. Within minutes of the satellite overpass, users   
   can pinpoint active fire locations and anticipate sudden blowups and shifts in   
   a fire's direction that could help keep firefighters out of harm's way.   
       
   The Meraka Institute in Pretoria, South Africa served as an early adopter of   
   the new fire product, putting it to use during several large wildfires in   
   South Africa's Kruger National Park.   
       
   Meraka's Philip Frost said, "We had some serious wildfires in September 2014,   
   and the VIIRS 375-meter data performed excellently."   
       
   Wilfred Schroader of the University of Maryland Collage Park said, "We hope   
   that by infusing the higher resolution detection data and fire behavior   
   modeling outputs into tactical fire situations, we can lessen the pressure on   
   those working in fire management." Schroeder leads the project team that   
   developed the weather-fire model along with Janice Coen of the National Center   
   for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder, Colorado.   
       
   The new VIIRS fire detection product was developed with support from NASA's   
   Earth Science division, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration,   
   and the U.S. Forest Service.   
       
   Active fire maps of the United States are available online at: h   
   tp://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us   
       
       
   Regards,   
       
   Roger   
      
   --- DB 3.99 + Windows 10   
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