Workshop Outcomes: Opportunities to Apply Remote Sensing in Boreal/Arctic Wildfire Management and Science

Alison York, Alaska Fire Science Consortium, ayork@alaska.edu (Presenter)
Randi Jandt, Alaska Fire Science Consortium, rjandt@alaska.edu
Robert Ziel, Alaska Fire Science Consortium, rhziel@alaska.edu

With support from the NASA Applied Sciences Program, the Alaska Fire Science Consortium (AFSC; part of the International Arctic Research Center at UAF) organized an international workshop in April 2017 to advance the application of remote sensing tools and data by Alaska fire managers and scientists.

The 85 workshop participants included regional fire and resource managers, with representation from state, federal, and Canadian agencies, as well as scientists with expertise in remote sensing and related disciplines, including several ABoVE-affiliated investigators.

Topics of discussion at the workshop included:

1. Potential fire risk: Can remotely sensed data (e.g., daily snow extent, others) estimate spring soil moisture and surface and subsurface fuel moisture and fuel conditions, and thus provide critical inputs for fuel moisture indices used to predict fire danger and risk?

2. Near real-time fire behavior: Which remotely sensed data are best and most timely for fire detection, plume tracking of fire emissions, fire behavior modeling, mapping of flaming fronts, fire intensity, active fire perimeters, and response for ongoing fires?

3. Post-fire effects: Can we improve analytical methods for remotely sensed data to assess fire severity, consumption/CO2 balance, active-layer changes, and successional trajectories of high latitude vegetation communities?

The outcomes of this workshop include:

• increased understanding of current and potential uses and limitations of remote sensing data in the fire and resource management context in Alaska and Canada;

• improved communication and coordination among agency personnel and the research and tech transfer communities, including several projects underway to explore new management and scientific uses of remote sensing data in high latitudes; and

• input from Alaska and Canadian managers into ongoing user requirements and tech transfer efforts such as Geospatial Technology and Applications Center (USFS) and the Tactical Fire Remote Sensing Advisory Committee (joint NASA and USFS).

Specific outcomes from the workshop can assist ABoVE investigators seeking to apply their data and products to improve the scientific foundations and operational efficiencies of Alaska fire and resource management and advance the use of remotely sensed data for fire management and fire science in high northern latitudes.

Poster Location ID: 54

Session Assigned: Fire Disturbance