Calay News
With rising temperatures and persistent drought around the world, the threat of large-scale fires is becoming more worrying. Canada has lost more than 10 million hectares of forests and grasslands due to the fire, while in Europe, the fight against the flames continues.
To avoid environmental and human disasters derived from fires, it is essential to have daily surveillance of these situations. NASA has developed an observation program called “Fire Information for Resource Management System” (FIRMS) that provides real-time information about places on Earth that are burning.
This program uses two orbiting satellites, Aqua and Terra, equipped with optical sensors called Modis. These sensors are capable of detecting radiation anomalies characteristic of high ground surface temperatures that are associated with fires. Twice a day, these satellites scan the entire surface of the Earth and collect precise data on the location and intensity of the fires. The intensity is measured by an index known as “radiative power.”
According to Olivier Boucher, a climatologist at the Pierre-Simon Laplace Institute, this index is a valuable indicator as it combines both the intensity and the size of the fire. However, its only limitation is that it cannot distinguish between a small but very hot fire and a larger but less intense one.
The surveillance and monitoring provided by FIRMS are crucial to being alert to fires and taking preventive measures to mitigate their devastating effects.
