Hey NASA Space Apps

Challenge Team,

We are Fire Impactology team who accepted the challenge on the subject of Managing Fire: Increasing Community-based Fire Management Opportunities.

Wildfires pose a growing threat globally, necessitating innovative solutions to leverage NASA's satellite-derived active fire data. The war in Ukraine also increased the number of fires many times over. Our challenge is to develop an exclusive solution using technology and publicly available data that will allow local communities to report fires, monitor fires, and improve data dissemination using the Gaussian Plum model that shows the direction of pollution and its amount in units of PM2.5 and PM10 and AQI, US AQI, and recommendations.

The escalating frequency, number, and size of wildfires demand diverse stakeholders' engagement. Beyond governments and organizations, local communities bear the brunt of negative impacts like biodiversity loss, and air pollution. Leveraging active fire data is critical for community-based forest management, addressing issues such as land encroachment and aiding in quick responses to new wildfires.

Resources:

FIRMS - Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS)

ERA5

Gaussian Plum model

US AQI form PM2,5 and PM10 + recommendations from WHO and WIKI

Project Information:

Fire points from NASA FIRMS are filtered for confidence, and a Gaussian plume service is employed to assess emissions from polygons. At the start we get fire points from NASA firms by API (from MODIS and VIIRS). After this we filter they by confidence more than 50 percent to have the most valid data. We increase center of fire point to satellite pixel size and union touching polygones. Because the Gauss formula cannot calculate emissions from square thats why we search the center of our polygons and other points in polygon. After this we created request with this points and start-end time (end time is the 8 hours after fire detection) and sent this request to our GAUSIAN-plume service.

Our project incorporates weather data from ERA5 and a Gaussian plume model to create a model displaying US AQI. The model features colored ovals representing US AQI, clickable for detailed information on AQI index, PM2.5, and PM10. A menu explains AQI levels and provides recommendations.

This project aims not just to manage fires but to empower communities, emphasizing the importance of presentation in conveying the project's value.

Conclusion:

Our innovative approach addresses the expanding challenges of wildfires, ensuring that the increasing frequency and intensity do not disproportionately affect local communities. Through technology and community engagement, we aim to foster sustainable fire management practices, safeguarding biodiversity, air quality, and community well-being.

2023 NASA Space Apps Challenge

Fire impactology