24-04-2025
NASA Sensor Reveals Unknown Fire in Alabama
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A NASA sensor was able to detect the exact location of a 120-acre fire burning in Alabama which had not yet been reported to officials.
The sensor—AVIRIS-3—was flying on board a research plane three miles east of Castleberry, Alabama on March 19, when the imaging spectrometer picked up the large field fire.
A scientist on board analyzed the data and was able to map out where the blaze was burning most intensely—in this case, the northeastern edge—and the information was immediately sent to emergency workers on the ground who set off to contain the fire.
The sensor picked up the blaze, which had seemingly gone unnoticed and had not yet been reported to officials, and enabled firefighters to limit the spread and save buildings in its potential path.
According to NASA, the process—from detection to alerting firefighters—took but a few minutes. The data perfectly illustrated to emergency workers the perimeter of the fire, helping them determine whether it could spread, and where personnel and equipment should go to best tackle the wildfire.
The sensor was used to map a wildfire near Castleberry, Alabama, and sent to firefighters who were able to contain the blaze.
The sensor was used to map a wildfire near Castleberry, Alabama, and sent to firefighters who were able to contain the blaze.
NASA/JPL-Caltech, NASA Earth Observatory
Ethan Barrett, fire analyst for the Forest Protection Division of the Alabama Forestry Commission, explained in a statement: "Fire moves a lot faster than a bulldozer, so we have to try to get around it before it overtakes us. These maps show us the hot spots.
"When I get out of the truck, I can say, 'OK, here's the perimeter.' That puts me light-years ahead."
Robert Green, the AVIRIS program's principal investigator and senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, called it "very agile science"; in March alone, the team used the sensor to map at least 13 wildfires in real time.
This is a major development, as data from sensors can take days or weeks to be processed into detailed, multilayered images to be used in research. But by simplifying calibration algorithms, the data can now be processed on a computer as it is happening.
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And airborne satellite internet connectivity enabled the images to be distributed, in this case to firefighters and researchers on the ground, almost immediately.
AVIRIS-3 uses three types of maps: one showing burned areas and smoke, another looking for spots burning particularly hot, including perimeters of ongoing blazes, and another to identify the intensity of the burning.
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