The Full Picture

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In an effort to coordinate international geostationary fire moni-

toring efforts, the GOFC-GOLD Fire Monitoring and

Implementation Team and the European Organization for the

Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) hosted two

workshops on geostationary fire monitoring and applications in

Darmstadt, Germany in 2004 and 2006. The 2006 workshop was

attended by over 45 representatives from 18 countries in Europe,

Africa, Asia and the Americas.

This workshop included many

presentations on current research and applications of GOES, Met-

8, FY-2C, and MTSAT-1R, demonstrating the capabilities of these

instruments for fire detection and monitoring. The use of Met-8

SEVIRI data for fire applications has grown significantly through-

out Europe and in Africa. FY-2C and MTSAT-1R were launched in

2004 and 2005. Over the past two years, FY-2C and MTSAT-1R

have been used to some extent for fire detection and monitoring in

Asia and Australia. Furthermore, several operational agencies (e.g.

NOAA/NESDIS, EUMETSAT, INPE, UK Met Office, China

Meteorological Administration, and India) plan to develop or

expand existing geostationary fire detection and monitoring

programmes. NOAA/NESDIS and the UK Met Office plan to imple-

ment a real-time global geostationary fire monitoring system in

2008 and 2009, respectively. Furthermore, fire detection and moni-

toring is a requirement for the next generation GOES-R Advanced

Baseline Imager (ABI) and the Meteosat Third Generation geosta-

tionary platforms.

One of the primary recommendations from the 2006 workshop

addressed the need to become more closely connected to interna-

tional working groups and inter-agency efforts to gain better insight

into the needs of the global user community, to enable better coor-

dination of data sources and products, and to provide input for future

missions. Both international and inter-governmental activities

provide suitable forums for reaching a consensus on sensor and algo-

rithmic requirements. In particular, the relationship between the

GOFC-GOLD-Fire Global Geostationary Network, the Coordination

Group for Meteorological Satellites (CGMS) and the Committee on

Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS) was discussed. CGMS, primar-

ily through its working groups, promotes standardization and

coordinated operational production by operational agencies. The

recently emerged CEOS constellations are aimed at fostering the

international planning process for space-based obser-

vations. Major elements of the concept include a clear

and common statement of requirements defined by the

target user communities, definition of a series of virtual

satellite constellations that satisfy these requirements,

definition of a series of standards for a mission to be

included in the constellation, and a process for recog-

nition and acceptance. The standards include

requirement of sensor capabilities, calibration and vali-

dation and data production and distribution. Many

elements of the CEOS constellation process should be

adapted by the geostationary fire monitoring network.

A strong relationship with the CEOS Working Group

on Calibration and Validation also needs to be main-

tained to ensure ongoing cal/val activities in the

community.

Global early warning system for wildland fire

The success of fire management programmes in reduc-

ing or preventing wildfire disasters is highly

dependent on the ability to predict and prepare for

those situations. To do this, forest and land manage-

ment agencies, as well as landowners and

communities, require an early warning system to iden-

tify critical periods of extreme fire danger in advance

of their occurrence. Early warning of these conditions,

with high spatial and temporal resolution, allows fire

managers to implement fire prevention, detection, and

pre-suppression plans before fire problems begin.

Considering that most uncontrolled and destructive

wildfires are caused by humans as a consequence of

inappropriate use of fire in agriculture, pastoralism

and forestry, it is crucial that international wildland

fire early warning systems are developed to comple-

ment relevant national fire danger warning systems

where they exist, to provide early warning where

national systems do not exist, and to enhance warn-

ings applied or generated at the local community level.

This will ensure delivery of targeted information

reflecting specific local conditions and allowing the

involvement of local communities in wildland fire

prevention.

Fire danger rating is a mature science and has long

been used as a tool to provide early warning of the

potential for serious wildfires. Fire danger rating systems

(FDRS) use basic daily weather data to calculate wildfire

potential. FDRS early warning information is often

enhanced with satellite data, such as hotspots for early

fire detection, and with spectral data on land cover and

fuel conditions. Normally, these systems provide a four

to six-hour early warning of the highest fire danger for

any day for which the weather data is supplied.

However, by using forecasted weather data, as much as

two weeks of early warning can be provided, depend-

ing on the length of the forecast. Ensemble weather

prediction systems through multiple realizations of fore-

casts provide distributions of weather forecasts and

capture the inherent predictability and uncertainty asso-

ciated with such forecasts.

Components of a global geostationary fire monitoring system

Current and future network of operational geostationary meteorological

satellites with active fire detection capabilities

Source: University of Wisconsin-Madison SSEC/CIMSS

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