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1 [1] (March 11, 2025)

handle is hein.crs/ussltcbs0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Cogesoa Resarc Seric March 11, 2025 U.S. Satellite Capabilities for Tracking the Wildfire Life Cycle Satellite capabilities support virtually every aspect of the wildfire life cycle: characterizing the prefire environment (e.g., seasonal climate predictions, vegetation structure); detecting and monitoring wildfires; and assessing postfire hazards (e.g., debris flows, flash floods) and ecosystem recovery. In particular, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) finds that satellites provide information about the location, duration, size, temperature, and power output of those fires that would otherwise be unavailable through approaches such as ground-based sensors, aerial technologies (e.g., drones), or aircraft. These approaches may provide complementary data to satellites, particularly when satellite data are limited in spatial and/or temporal (i.e., the time between observations of the same area) resolution and given the money and time to develop and deploy new satellites. NOAA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) contribute to satellite observation systems across the wildfire life cycle, including detecting and monitoring fires in near real-time (NRT; i.e., data available within about one to three hours). The 119th Congress has introduced legislation to improve satellite observations with the aim of increasing U.S. resilience to the harmful effects of wildfires. This In Focus describes current and planned U.S. civil satellite observation systems that may contribute data and information about the prefire environment, the early detection and monitoring of fire, as well as the assessment of post-wildfire hazards. Satellite Wildfire Applications Satellites can collect environmental information about conditions conducive to fire weather (see CRS In Focus IF12884, Fire Weather: Background and Forecasting) as well as fuel (grasses, brush, timber, slash) condition (e.g., live versus dead biomass, soil and biomass moisture content). These pre-wildfire observations guide predictions of the likelihood and intensity of wildfire outbreaks. Post- wildfire observations can help land managers and scientists assess wildfires' severity, extent, and impact. These assessments may inform efforts to improve safety, prevent further damage, estimate pollution risks, support postfire hazard risk assessments, and monitor landscape recovery. Satellites also can be used to detect wildfires, generally in concert with existing wildfire detection techniques. Some satellites can make NRT observations to support early wildfire detection, which increases the likelihood of timely response. To be useful for this purpose, satellites must provide data with the necessary frequency and spatial resolution to users on the ground. Data latency, the total time between data acquisition and public availability, may vary among satellite missions and may affect the use of observations for wildfire applications. Both geostationary orbit (GEO) and low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites provide wildfire-related observations but do so at different frequencies and spatial resolutions. GEO satellites remain over the same location on the Earth and provide continuous coverage of a large area but at a lower resolution relative to LEO satellites, due to their altitude. LEO satellites provide a more limited field of view, as they are closer to the Earth. Their proximity to Earth, however, allows for relatively higher spatial resolution. LEO satellites complete several orbits of the Earth each day; each orbit allows data collection for different locations and times of day, but observations at each location have a lower temporal resolution. To aim for a similar spatial or temporal coverage as a GEO satellite, multiple LEO satellites, or a constellation, may be required. Coupling LEO and GEO data may provide a more comprehensive approach to early detection of wildfires and monitoring. NOAA G EO Satellites NOAA's Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES)-R Series hosts the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI), which produces a 1,000 by 1,000 kilometer scan of the Earth every 60 seconds (s) with a spatial resolution of 500 to 2,000 meters (m). These rapid scans help experts detect smoke plumes and heat signatures to identify and respond to fires in NRT. Monitoring smoke plumes in NRT is useful in directing firefighting efforts from the air. GOES-R Series also hosts the Geostationary Lightning Mapper to improve detection of wildfires initiated by lightning. NOAA anticipates that its future GEO satellite mission, Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO), will include a new imager with improved spatial resolution and data latency on the order of a few minutes. The improved imager may detect wildfires that are four times smaller than what ABI can detect while also providing data to first responders more quickly. NOAA anticipates the GeoXO satellites will deploy beginning in 2032 (see CRS In Focus IF12898, NOAA 's Future Geostationary Extended Observations (GeoXO) Mission). Selected U.S. LEO Satellites NOAA's Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS), a fleet of three satellites, provides global environmental observations twice a day for short- and long-term weather forecasts. JPPS satellites host an instrument, the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which has a 375 m spatial resolution. This spatial resolution allows for the detection of small, lower-temperature (compared with background levels) fires. VIIRS also has a Day-Night Band ,ittps://crsreports~congress~gov

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