Scientists develop wildfire detection satellite
Scientists develop wildfire detection satellite
25 October 2013
published by www.dvice.com
USA — In 2012, over 67,000 wildfires were reported, resulting in a total of over 9 million acres of land being damaged. Not only are lives often lost during these fires, but the quality of air in surrounding areas can be hazardous to public health. One of the key problems in detecting these fires is finding them when theyre still small so that they can be eliminated before growing larger. Berkeley scientists hope to be able to do just that with their new satellite fire detection system.
Wildfire detection is currently limited to human eyes. Spotters are put in towers and on the ground and report back to the appropriate agencies when a fire is seen. This information, combined with aerial surveillance and lightning detection, is used to determine where to send firefighters. Unfortunately, by the time such fires are detected, they have grown too large to be contained easily. The Berkeley scientists, however, believe their satellite, could spot fires before theyve grown out of control.
The new satellite detection system, called Fire Urgency Estimator in Geosynchronous Orbit (FUEGO), would only cost several hundred million dollars. Compared to the $2.5 million average cost of fighting fires in the U.S. every year, this satellite detection could save both money and lives.
So how does FUEGO work? The satellite comes equipped with an onboard camera, an infrared filter and a recording device. It scans Earth, looking for bright spots that appear on the surface of the planet. Computer analysis would then look at each bright spot and determine if what is being picked up is actually a fire. This system would allow for images to be taken every few seconds with over a billion calculations being done on each image to determine real fires from false alarms.
With global warming becoming a reality, we can expect to see more and larger wildfires in the near future. The team at Berkeley hopes that FUEGO can provide a solution to prevent as many fires from escalating into larger fires that result in the loss of lives, property damage and smoke-related health concerns. In other words, its sort of a no-brainer.
