WildfiresDrones help in better understanding of wildfires
U.S. Geological Survey scientists and partners are taking technology to the next level, using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to acquire both fire intensity and emissions data during prescribed burns. This effort combines expertise from multiple USGS partners that could reduce the harmful effects of smoke impacts from use of prescribed burns. Lessening the risk to property and lives during wildfires is a primary purpose of prescribed burns.
U.S. Geological Survey scientists and partners are taking technology to the next level, using unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) to acquire both fire intensity and emissions data during prescribed burns.
USGS notes that this effort combines expertise from multiple USGS partners that could reduce the harmful effects of smoke impacts from use of prescribed burns. Lessening the risk to property and lives during wildfires is a primary purpose of prescribed burns.
“We aim to use drones to better understand the relationship between fire intensity and what type of particulates are released from fires of greater or lesser intensity,” said USGS lead scientist Todd Hoefen. “This can tell us what a fire leaves behind and how that could affect people and the environment.”
Role of prescribed fires
Fire plays an important role in the ecological landscape of the southeastern United States, where prescribed, or planned, burning is used to manage more than eight million acres of land every year. However, much remains to be learned about the physics of fire behavior and how fire dynamics relate to emission levels. Continued growth of residences and public buildings into forested areas has increased the wildland-urban interface and the consequent risks for property and health from uncontrolled wildfires.
The use of prescribed burning offsets this risk by periodically reducing the woody fuel source to limit the spread and intensity of wildfires. Past research has examined how to conduct prescribed burns efficiently, depending on knowledge of meteorological and biomass characteristics. Scientists expect these same characteristics to affect the nature of a fire’s emissions but have not yet been examined them in a manner that enables fire managers to reduce the potential health impact of the smoke and particulates.
This cutting-edge collaboration, funded by the USGS Innovation Center and the USGS Environmental Health and Ecosystems Mission Areas, includes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Canadian Forest Service and the University of Dayton Research Institute with support from the University of Florida Unmanned Aircraft Systems Research Program.
The overall goal is to use UAS to combine and analyze data about fire dynamics with information about fire emissions to better understand how prescribed burns can be conducted with minimal safety and public health risks.
