FireSense

Overview

The FireSense project is focused on measurable improvement in U.S. wildland fire management. This is accomplished by working with operational agencies responsible for wildland fire management to mature and deliver NASA’s unique Earth science and technological capabilities. FireSense focuses on four use-cases to support decisions across the fire lifecycle before, during, and after wildland fires. These include the measurement of pre-fire fuels conditions, active fire dynamics, post fire impacts and threats, as well as air quality forecasting, each co-developed with identified wildland fire management agency stakeholders. Beyond the fire lifecycle, FireSense is intended to enable a transition from reactive to proactive fire response by facilitating increased preparedness and co-existence with fire through co-development of technology and data-informed tools with communities representing resource managers, policy-makers, and stakeholders at all levels. Starting in the fall of 2023, FireSense has an annual airborne and field component where the project tests and develops improved capabilities and technologies for transfer to stakeholders. FireSense leverages multiple airborne instruments, including MODIS/ASTER Airborne Simulator (MASTER), Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR), Airborne Visible/Infrared Imaging Spectrometer 3 (AVIRIS-3), Scanning L-band Active Passive (SLAP), and San Jose State University Wildfire Imaging System (SWIS).