nisar: the nasa-isro sar mission smart firefighting ... · land and fire managers of daily and...

ã2017CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology.Governmentsponsorshipacknowledged.

NISAR:TheNASA-ISROSARMission

FiremanagementEnvironmental protection policies and resources tomanage public lands have remained relatively constant,yet high impact fires are becoming more common asurban sprawl into wildlands grows. In 1995 the cost to

fight wildland fires was approximately 16% of the USForestServicebudgetbutby2015ithadgrownto52%oftheannualbudget(USFS2015).

Firesarecrucialtomanyecosystems,yetoftenthreatendevelopedurbanareas,protectedlandsandregionalairquality.Categorizingfiredanger,detectingfires,identifyingareaburnedandquantifyingtheseverityoffiresiscriticalformitigatingtheimpactsoffire.

Modern Technology and Fire

Firemanagementincludesacombinationofgroundtacticalstrategies,inter-agencycoordination,simulationmodeling,pro-activefuelsmanagement,andpost-fireremediation.TheseactivitiesareinformedbyfieldobservationsandmakeuseofsatelliteandairborneobservationsinthevisibletothermalinfraredportionoftheelectromagneticspectrumsuchasMODISandVIIRS,whichprovideacontinuousrecordofglobalfiredetectionssince2002,orLandsatsensorsthatprovideareaburnedandlandcoverandlanduseinformation.Theuseofremotesensingdatainthefiremanagementcommunityisprolific,howeveropticalimagingmethodscanbeineffectiveincloudyareasandathighlatitudeswhendaylighthoursareshort,e.g.,Alaska.Radarimagingcanhelpfilltheseinformationgaps.

TheNISARMission–Reliable,ConsistentObservations

The NASA–ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) mission, a collaborationbetweentheNationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration(NASA)andtheIndianSpaceResearchOrganization(ISRO),willprovideall-weather,day/nightimagingofnearlytheentirelandandicemassesoftheEarthrepeated4-6timespermonth.NISAR’sorbitingradarswillimageatresolutionsof5-10meterstoidentifyandtracksubtlemovementoftheEarth’slandanditsseaice,andevenprovideinformationaboutwhatishappeningbelowthesurface.NISARwillalsoprovideforestvolumeandbiomassovertimeandwithenoughdetailtorevealchangesonhumanscales.Productsareexpectedtobeavailable1-2daysafterobservation,andwithinhours in responsetodisasters,providingactionable,timelydataformanyapplications.

SmartFirefighting:Arminglandmanagerswithnewinformation

Photos(clockwise):USFS/MikeMcMillan,NASA/JPL-Caltech,USDA,Flickr:Lisa,CCBY-NC2.0S

ã2017CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology.Governmentsponsorshipacknowledged.

NISAR:TheNASA-ISROSARMission

Land and fire managers are looking for as muchinformationaspossibletohelpmanagefires.Becauseofthe dangerous nature of fires and their sometimes-remote locations, remote sensing is a widely used andaccepted tool used by national and internationalorganizationstodetectactivefires,monitorimpactsfromfire and assess fire danger. For example, the NationalInteragency Coordination Center (NICC), the US ForestServiceWildlandFireAssessmentSystem(WFAS),theUSForestServiceRemoteSensingApplicationCenterandtheNationalAeronauticsandSpaceAgency(NASA)areamongthekeyorganizationsintheU.S.providinginformationtolandandfiremanagersofdailyandseasonalprojectedfiredanger, active fire detections, area burnt, and fireseverity. Fire danger is determined by currentmoistureconditions,durationof thoseconditions,andvegetationwater content, while fire severity refers to the totalenvironmental change caused by fire. Managerscustomize this information based on local expertknowledgeofthetotalfuelsavailabletoburntoprovide

publicserviceannouncementsanddevelopmanagementstrategiestomitigatepotentialimpacts.The upcoming NISAR mission will address firemanagement needs through a dependable observingstrategy that will collect high resolution syntheticapertureradar(SAR)imagesover90%oftheEarth’slandsurfaces throughout the year. Radar images fromsatellites, such as NISAR, are known for their ability topenetrate through clouds, and their day/night imagingcapability.NISARimagerycanprovideobservationsthatcomplement optical data and independent informationthat is sensitive to the changing structureandmoistureconditions of terrestrial (land) ecosystems. Specifically,radar remote sensing with NISAR can provideobservations detecting disturbance, vegetation and soilwatercontentthatareusefulformonitoringfiredanger,andbiomass that isuseful forquantifyingtotalavailablefueltoburnandemissionslosttotheatmosphere.Allofthese observations can help managers make informeddecisionsonhowtoallocatelimitedresources.

NationalAeronauticsandSpaceAdministration Formoreinformation,visithttp://nisar.jpl.nasa.gov/applications

JetPropulsionLaboratory/CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology/Pasadena,California/www.jpl.nasa.gov

Active Fire Mapping using Radar

ObservationsoftheEarth’slandsurfacesfromspaceusingradarsmakesitpossibleforreliableandrepeatedmeasurementstobemadethroughouttheyeardespitevaryingdurationofdaylighthoursorcloudcover.Thestructuresofdifferentlandcovertypesprovidearichvarietyofresponsestotheradarilluminationthroughtime-varyingpolarizationsignatures.Becauseoftherapidchangesinstructureandcompositionafterdisturbancelikewildfire,informationlikethiscanbeusedtodetermineareaburnt,evenwhentraditionalmethodsdonotworkwell.Shownatrightisthefireburnscarofthe2015LakeFireinSanBernardinoNationalForest,California.Theimageontopshowsprobabilityofchangederivedfrominterferometricradar(InSAR)using14pre-eventimagesandonepost-fireimagefromanoverpassonJune29,2015,usingtheairborneJetPropulsionLaboratory(JPL)UninhabitedAerialVehicle(UAV)SARradarinstrument,whichisatestbedforNISAR.Forcomparison,theplotshownatrightbelowisthedifferencedNormalizedBurnRatio(dNBR)fireseveritymapobtainedfromLandsat.Theradarisabletoidentifythemoreseverelyburnedareas.AlthoughitwaspossibleinthisparticularfiretousebothLandsatandInSARdata,therearemanyareas(e.g.,Alaska)whereitisfrequentlytoodarkorovercasttoproducemapsfromopticaldataonaregularbasis.Useofradarcanimprovemappingcapabilitiesacrossmanyareas.