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.

TheNISARL-bandSyntheticApertureRadarThe NISAR mission will carry an advanced sensor, the L-SAR or L-bandsynthetic aperture radar, that will provide nearly global coverage of theEarth’slandsurfaceat15mresolutionevery12days.Theinstrumentisthefirst-ever spaceborne implementation of a new technology known asSweepSAR,whichcombineshighspatialresolutionwithlargeimagingswath.TheL-SARinstrumentisbuiltattheJetPropulsionLaboratory(JPL),whichisNASA’sonlyFederallyFundedResearchandDevelopmentCenter(FFRDC).JPLisnostrangertothedangerofforestfire:TheimagetotheleftshowstheJPLagainstthebackdropofthe2009StationFire,whichburned650km2oflandinsouthernCalifornia.Theheroiceffortsoffirefighterssparedthelabfromdamage.

SmartFirefighting:Arminglandmanagerswithvitalinformation

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

Photo:NASA/JPL-CaltechS

ã2017CaliforniaInstituteofTechnology.Governmentsponsorshipacknowledged.

NISAR:TheNASA-ISROSARMission

Land and fire managers are looking for as muchinformationaspossibletohelpmanagefires.Becauseofthe dangerous nature of fires and their sometimes-remotelocations(yetregionalimpacts),remotesensingisa widely used and accepted tool used by national andinternationalorganizationstodetectactivefires,monitorimpacts from fire and assess fire danger. The NationalInteragency Coordination Center (NICC), the US ForestServiceWildlandFireAssessmentSystem(WFAS),theUSForestServiceRemoteSensingApplicationCenterandtheNationalAeronauticsandSpaceAgency(NASA)areamongthekeyorganizationsproviding information to landandfiremanagersofdailyandseasonalprojectedfiredanger,active fire detections, area burnt, and fire severity. Firedanger is determined by current moisture conditions,duration of those conditions, and vegetation watercontent, while fire severity refers to the total changeenvironmental change caused by fire. Managerscustomize this information based on local expertknowledgeofthetotalfuelsavailabletoburntoprovidepublicserviceannouncementsanddevelopmanagementstrategiestomitigatepotentialimpacts.

The upcoming NISAR mission will address firemanagement needs through a dependable observingstrategythatwillcollecthighresolution(25m)over90%oftheEarth’slandsurfaces30timesperyear.SARimagesfromsatellites,suchasNISAR,areknownfortheirabilitytopenetratethroughclouds,andtheirday/nightimagingcapability. Hence, rather thanmakingdowith threeorfouropticalimagescollectedthroughoutthefireseason,SAR imagery will provide bi-weekly observations thatcomplement optical data and provide independentinformationthatissensitivetothechangingstructureandmoisture conditions of terrestrial (land) ecosystems.Specifically,radarremotesensingwithNISARcanprovideobservations detecting disturbance, vegetation and soilmoisturethatareuseful formonitoring firedanger,andbiomassthatisusefulforquantifyingtotalavailable fueltoburnandemissionslosttotheatmosphere.Alloftheseobservationscanhelpmanagersmakeinformeddecisionsofhowtoallocatelimitedresources.

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

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

Active Fire Perimeter Mapping using RadarObservationsoftheEarth’slandsurfacesfromspaceusingactivemicrowavesensorsallowsforreliableandrepeatedmeasurementstobemadethroughouttheyeardespitevaryingdurationofdaylighthoursormeteorologicalconditionssuchasclouds.Thestructuresofdifferentlandcovertypesprovidearichvarietyofresponsestotheradarilluminationintermsofvaryingpolarizationandfrequencysignatures.Becauseoftherapidchangesinstructureandcompositionafterdisturbancelikewildfire,Informationlikethiscanbeusedtodetermineareaburnt,evenwhentraditionalmethodsmaynotworkaswell.Shownatrightisthefireburnscarofthe2015LakeFireinSanBernardinoNationalForest,California.TheimageontopshowsprobabilityofchangederivedfrominterferometricSAR(InSAR)using14pre-eventSARimagesandoneSARimagefromanairborneoverpassJune29,2015withtheJetPropulsionLaboratory(JPL)UninhabitedAerialVehicle(UAV)SARL-bandinstrument.Forcomparison,belowisanimageoftheLandsatdifferencedNormalizedBurnRatio(dNBR)fireseveritymap.AlthoughitwaspossibleinthisfireusebothLandsatandInSARdata,therearemanyareas(e.g.,Alaska)whereitisfrequentlytoodarkorovercasttoproducemapsfromopticaldataonaregularbasis.Thus,useofradarcandrasticallyimprovemappingcapabilities.