UAS thermal infrared spectroscopy will improve real time evaluation of hazards and environmental impacts of wildfires

Our proposal primarily addresses the active-fire stage of wildfire management. We propose to advance the spatiotemporal resolution and latency of novel multispectral thermal infrared (TIR) data acquired from a small Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS), increasing the accuracy of the detection and characterization of burn stages. Deriving the temperature and emissivity in 3D of both the solid and gas phases improves knowledge of maximum burn temperatures, as well as, heat and gas flux rates, important for first-principle process-based modeling of fire behavior. Higher temporal resolution enables estimation of instantaneous fluxes to constrain fire and plume dynamics in near real-time. Unique to this study, the spectral emissivity data quantifies specific gas emissions (e.g., SO2, CO, and NH3) using established TIR gas retrieval algorithms and empirical formulas (e.g., Realmuto and Berk, 2016; Vasileva and Moiseenko, 2013), which coupled with accurate temperatures vastly improve estimates of burn intensity, oxygen levels, and pollutant concentrations. These characteristics are important for understanding the impacts of wildland and prescribed fires on vegetation and soils, and air quality, for regulatory and legislative policy consideration. Technologically, this proposal centers on developing an affordable small UAS-based high-temperature multispectral TIR imaging system with high spatial (meter) and temporal (second) resolution. For the first time, the system will measure emissivity and unsaturated temperature up to maximum potential flame temperatures (<2100 K). A prototype of this system is developed and successfully tested by the PI over active volcanoes (PyMTI-UAS). This proposal improves the performance, reliability, and latency metrics of that system. The versatile small UAS (<2 kg and <20 W) is easily deployable during a wildfire event to rapidly quantify the heat and gas fluxes in 3D. A telemetry downlink is coupled with this system to allow the processing and distribution of data into fire management systems with low latency. Results are directly available to wildland fire commanders to aid in evaluating current fire behavior (thermal and gases). Previously developed temperature/gas sensors and ground-based multispectral TIR imaging systems will provide vicarious calibration and validation. This setup compliments the detection of wildfires using orbital data products by providing higher spatial and temporal resolution plus dynamic tasking. Though the TIR imaging system is useful for providing important information for all stages of wildfire management (e.g., land-use and biomass pre- and post- fire), the spectral data collected during the active and smoldering phase of wildland fires (full life and diurnal cycle) are most important for the thermal and gas flux determination objectives of this study. The final goal of the proposal develops acquisition-processing-analytical protocols and provides actionable results to stakeholders/incident commanders in near real-time. This project partners with U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, Balcones Canyonlands National Wildlife Refuge (Texas). The Refuge aids in the deployment of this system during prescribed burns, and ultimately to become operational during wildfires. This collaboration allows wildfires to be studied under different conditions, environments, and habitats, improving our synoptic understanding of burns. The proposal delivers an affordable high-impact system that can be used by numerous stakeholders, especially those with limited resources.

Enhances the capabilities for existing science instruments for monitoring pre-fire, active-fire, and post-fire situations, reduces the power and mass of these instruments, and enables unprecedented observations in support of wildfire science through distributed observing systems and the information technologies needed for their support.

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