Development of a satellite-based fire and smoke analysis in NOAA/NESDIS

Since the summer of 1998, the Satellite Analysis Branch (SAB) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)/National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) has supported the United States Agency for International Development (AID) and the National Weather Service (NWS) by producing experimental satellite-based fire and smoke analyses for several regions of concern (e.g. Mexico, Florida, Alaska and the southwest U.S.) The current analysis relies on GOES-8 and -10, and NOAA-14 satellite imagery to help identify fire "hot spots" and to outline smoke boundaries. In addition to satellite data, conventional weather observations are overlaid on the satellite imagery in an effort to eliminate fire "false alarms". This paper will describe the current methodology for producing this fire and smoke analysis, from the initial collection of data, the analysis process to the final product. Also described in this paper is a development effort to improve upon the aforementioned manually intensive analysis. This new "Hazard Mapping System" is designed to include new satellite-based techniques of fire analysis such as automatic production and notification of fire targets, masking of known "hot targets", and map overlays of drought index and vegetation condition.