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Automated Forecasting of Smoke Dispersion and Air Quality Using NASA Terra and Aqua Satellite Data PRINCIPLE INVESTIGATORS Wei Min Hao, Supervisory Research Chemist, and Shawn Urbanski, Physical Scientist INTRODUCTION Algorithms and techniques to inform an air quality forecasting system with near real-time satellite observations have been developed, demonstrated, and validated. These techniques are generally applicable to any air quality forecasting system, and in many cases do not depend on the particular satellite instrument chosen as the source of real time data. Validation of satellite derived fire products has been performed using ground truth provided by incident management teams; contrasting starkly with previous approaches of validation-by-simulation or by comparison with other measurements from space. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES Assemble, validate, and operate an air quality forecasting system which: - is driven by near real time satellite data,
- applies a consistent methodology across reporting jurisdictions
KEY RESULTS This project has produced techniques, algorithms and software of generic utility. The burn scar algorithm has been published in a refereed journal. Data products and software applications have been made publicly available. These generic components have been assembled into an air quality forecasting system in operation at the Missoula Fire Science Laboratory. The current generation of products is the foundation and core of our ongoing work in air quality forecasting and will continually be improved over time. FUNDING ORGANIZATION  This project was funded by the Joint Fire Sciences Program (JFSP), project number: 01-1-5-03.
PUBLICATIONS AND PRODUCTS Technology transfer from this project is realized in multiple forms. Data products, many of which were not previously available anywhere, are made available on our prototype website. These include: fire detections, burn scar detections, emission maps, and a fuel map defined in terms of the First Order Fire. http://www.mmm.ucar.edu/wrf/users/  http://ruc.fsl.noaa.gov/wrf/WG11/
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