(From the U.S. Forest Service)

Senior Remote Sensing Analyst Dr. Shengli Huang and RSL staff look at the Lidar and imaging spectrometer instruments equipped on a King Air A90 plane. Photo by Carlos Ramirez.

Imagine if one could prevent the next Rim Fire. The Remote Sensing Laboratory-Information Management Staff located in McClellan, California is using a variety of technologies and with their latest collaboration with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (NASA-JPL); they hope to do just that.

Using state of the art aerial technology

Technology being used includes satellite and airborne remotely sensed data such as:Landsat, WorldView2 (DigitalGlobe), Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) and imaging spectroscopy (or hyperspectral). Remote sensing is the science of obtaining information about objects or areas from a distance, typically from aircraft or satellites. To support the use of these technologies, ground-based measurements of forest characteristics, locational information using GPS and spectroscopic measurements using a portable field spectrometer are also acquired. Much of the technology is free or already available to the federal government.

The U.S. Forest Service is in partnership with NASA-JPL for acquiring the LiDAR and imaging spectroscopy data for the King fire.

Lidar 101: Introduction to the JPL lidars
Visit the Nasa LiDAR Homepage
Visit the NOAA site on LiDAR

Add ground technology and validate the aerial data

The on-the-ground data is collected and used in the interpretation of the remotely sensed data. This includes the calibration and validation of statistical models relating the ground measurement to the imagery. Uses of the data can span multiple resource areas and can have numerous different applications. For example, what conditions contribute to high-severity wildfires or prioritizing where mulching or reforestation would be most effective, thereby saving potentially millions of dollars are just a few potential uses of the data. Other uses include understanding fire behavior for potentially assisting firefighters with areas of specific danger or determining where habitat is suitable on the forest for species such as the California spotted owl and black backed woodpecker.

GIS/Remote Sensing Analyst Rodney Hart gets a reading on ash with a sensor as a part of the field spectrometer at the King Fire on the Eldorado National Forest. Photo by John C. Heil III.

Using aerial resources provides access to data that would otherwise not be available using ground based data collection tools. Access to remote areas is one of the benefits of this system. However, the combination of the aerial and ground data is critical. “Data from these various tools used together will provide better information which will lead to better land management decision making,” said Carlos Ramirez, program lead for the Region 5 Remote Sensing Lab.

For additional images see the official news release.

More information on the research and tools being used

For examples of the data products being developed from these new-generation tools and updates on the collaborative study, please see: http://wildfire.jpl.nasa.gov/
For other studies see The Ecosystem Disturbance and Recovery Tracker
UC Davis Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing (CSTARS)
GOES Early Fire Detection System – Rim Fire case slides (developed by the UC Davis Center for Spatial Technologies and Remote Sensing and the U.S. Forest Service Remote Sensing Application Center in Salt-Lake City, Utah): https://ucdavis.box.com/s/iz9bxlxmusnk7j3o5h6826snfbhfuyb1