Tracking Forest Fires from Space
12/22/99
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Title: Tracking forest fires from space
Source: MSNBC
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: December 22, 1999
Byline: Nate Tannenbaum
LAS VEGAS, Dec. 22- Imagine being able to track a forest fire from
outer space. A new satellite should be able to do just that. This
high tech breakthrough could eventually save your house from going
up in smoke. THERE'S A NEW satellite in space containing an
instrument called MODIS- Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectroradiometer. The bottom line is it should really help fire
fighters battle threatening blazes.
"I was shocked, absolutely shocked. I got closer, and sure
enough, there was my garage, burned completely, it was gone," says
Gabrielle Cook.
It's one of the worst nightmares- arriving home to find your house on
fire. Gabrielle's three car garage and decades of memories burned to
the ground by a wildfire in August of 1998.
Now a new remote sensing device, called MODIS can immediately spot the
size and intensity of forest fires anywhere on Earth.
Unlike existing tools, MODIS can tell an active fire from a smoldering
one. That kind of detail will give fire fighters a critical heads up.
Near San Bernadino County, near the town of Apple Valley just this
past summer, fire fighters weren't the only ones standing up and
taking notice when flame and smoke crept ever closer to people's
homes.
Twice a day, MODIS will scan the Earth's surface looking for thermal,
or heat energy. MODIS sensors see such energy. It works the same way
our eyes detect different colors. The sensors, like our eyes, convert
different wavelengths of light into electricity to produce images, but
the color of heat energy is invisible to us.
"We work mostly in the spectrum called the mid-infrared and it's
really sensitive to high temperatures. Fire, they'll really shine out
in the mid-infrared," says geophysicist, Andy Harris.
Scientists will be able to take data from MODIS and combine it with
hot spot information from existing weather satellites. Together, the
technologies will produce a clearer picture of a fire's path and
potential. It's technology that can give people like Gabrielle more
time to protect their homes.
"Those essential things that were important to me were gone," she
says.
The Internet alarm system is up and running. The alarm system works by
uploading information on the Internet alerting emergency teams in the
high-risk area.