Wildfire Management – Recent Experiences on the Ground and how Remote Observation can add to the Picture

EarthzineArticles, Disasters, Earth Observation, OpEd, Original, Wildfires Theme

For all the recent progress in Earth Observation technologies, wildfires remain a serious problem that poses ever-increasing challenges to our ingenuity. Minimizing their often-dramatic environmental and human impacts will require a smart combination of technology, political decision, and willingness to accept changes in our own individual and collective options as societies. In order to show how fire hazard is threatening many parts of the world on a recurrent basis, details are provided on the recent severe 2013 fire season in Portugal, along with background information on remote sensing of wildfires and related disaster risk management challenges.

LANDFIRE 2010 – Updated Data to Support Wildfire and Ecological Management

EarthzineArticles, Disasters, Original, Technology, Wildfires Theme

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Data products and tools from the LANDFIRE Program help decision-makers clarify problems and identify possible solutions when managing fires and natural resources. The Program – a joint effort between the U.S .Department of the Interior Office of Wildland Fire, U.S. Department of Agriculture Forest Service Fire & Aviation Management, and The Nature Conservancy – provides the only complete geospatial dataset describing vegetation and wildland fuel information for the entire U.S.

Air pollution in Indonesia and Singapore – in pictures

EarthzineEarth Observation, Wildfires Theme

Satellite image of smoke. Credit: NASA/Reuters. Originally published by the Guardian – Fires in peat swamp forests on Indonesia’s Sumatra island have created massive plumes of smog that have drifted over Singapore and Malaysia. Singaporeans have been urged to stay indoors and officials have said Jakarta must do more to stop plantation owners and farmers staring fires to clear land cheaply.

Rain Dampens Colorado’s Worst-Ever Wildfire

EarthzineWildfires Theme

Colorado fires. Photo: Colorado National Guard Originally published by Environment News Service – A welcome rain this afternoon is helping to extinguish the most destructive wildfire in Colorado history. The Black Forest Fire within the Colorado Springs city limits killed two people Tuesday while they were trying to flee, and before the rain began it was still raging out of control.

Call for Papers – Wildfires: From Risk Assessment to Recovery

EarthzineOriginal, Wildfires Theme

Photo of a forest fire in Portugal. Credit: Flickr/Brian Johnson & Dane KantnerEarthzine is soliciting articles from all regions of the globe for its third quarter 2013 theme on Wildfires. We seek articles that use in situ, airborne, and spaceborne observations that contribute to our understanding of wildfires across all scales, from their causes to consequences, including use in planning, mitigation, preparedness, response, and recovery from these hazards.