Automatic Fire Detection Using Carbon Monoxide Emissions

This study provides evidence on how wildfires can be detected using carbon monoxide (CO) emissions measured by the Atmospheric Infrared Sounder (AIRS) aboard NASA's Aqua satellite. By statistically averaging background concentrations of CO both spatially and temporarily, each biome (Boreal, Sahara, etc.) can be categorized, thus allowing daily anomalies in CO emissions to highlight potential fires throughout the world (Warner et al 2016). These detections can then help to verify "fire counts" taken by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS), which uses thermal "hot spots" to indicate potential fire locations (Giglio et al 2003). Together, this coupling of AIRS CO emissions and MODIS fire counts can increase confidence in remotely sensed fire detection, thus preventing false alarms and giving more time for communities to prepare for wildfires. This system, named COFAD (Carbon Monoxide Fire Automatic Detection) could eventually be implemented to save people's lives, such as in the remote communities in Boreal Canada, where wildfires can begin tens of miles away without detection.

References

Warner, J. X., Wei, Z., Strow, L. L., Dickerson, R. R., and Nowak, J. B.: The global tropospheric ammonia distribution as seen in the 13-year AIRS measurement record, Atmos. Chem. Phys., 16, 5467-5479, doi:10.5194/acp-16-5467-2016, 2016.

Giglio, L., Descloitres, J., Justice, C. O., & Kaufman, Y. J. (2003). An Enhanced Contextual Fire Detection Algorithm for MODIS. Remote Sensing of Environment, 87(2-3), 273-282. doi:10.1016/s0034-4257(03)00184-6