From: Estelle Condon (econdon at mail.arc.nasa.gov
Organization: NASA

Research Area: Other

Mission: Understanding Fire as an ecosystem disturbance

What impact does fire have on an ecosytem? What does fire and fire intensity mean in terms of the impact of fire emissions on the atmosphere? What trace gases are emitted and do they change with the fire temperature? What does fire mean for the types and abundance of the plants that exist in an ecosystem and the regrowth following the fire? What does fire mean for nutrient cycling? What does it mean for the watershed?

To study these complex issues the flight of a multispectral scanner with visible and IR channels would be required. In addition, instrumentation to measure combustion trace gases and aerosols would be necessary: CO2, CO, water, hydrocarbons, including oxygenated species, and other tracers like ozone and N2O. In addition, aerosols (size and composition) should be measured.

Flights would be conducted over controlled burns in conjunction with the Forest Service or as targets of opportunity when large fires occurred. Much remains to be learned from the effects of fire since fire has been both a natural and a man-man perturbation for centuries.

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