Scientists across Europe are currently developing a new tool aimed at allowing researchers, authorities, and media across the globe to easily access wildfire information.

Researchers are working to develop the “Fire Front Radar” to meet public safety, air quality, and environmental management challenges as climate change continues to intensify wildfires. The tool was unveiled as part of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts’ “Code for Earth” program, which acts as an annual catalyst for innovation in climate and atmospheric science, according to the website of Europe’s Earth observation program Copernicus.

The “Fire Front Radar” project will allow people to use an interactive world map to analyze time series, assess fire risk across multiple timescales, and generate regional visualizations once it finishes development, a press release from the Centre said. The tool will build on existing data from the Centre and the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.

“As global temperatures rise and vegetation drys out, the conditions for extreme wildfires are even more common and are turning what were once manageable events into major disasters with people being displaced,” said Lucy Colley, one of the participants in the project, at a presentation on the project. “Because the app is using probability indices, we are hoping to provide more insight into foreseeing and eventually planning for such events.”

The tool will also support trend analysis, data downloads, custom overlays, and report generation to turn complex datasets into clear and actionable insights, according to the Centre’s press release.

“Fire Front Radar establishes an effective and flexible platform for understanding the environmental conditions behind wildfire emissions that we monitor in CAMS, it is a tool that will provide extra context in my day-to-day work on wildfire emissions and their impacts on global atmospheric composition and air quality,” according to CAMS Senior Scientist Mark Parrington.