development of a canadian wildland fire monitoring sensor ... · 2. cwfms – canadian wildland...

1 CASI ASTRO 2018, May 16th, Québec, Canada

Development of a Canadian Wildland Fire Monitoring Sensor (CWFMS)

Helena (Marleen) van Mierlo1

Linh Ngo Phong1

Steeve Montminy1

Joshua M. Johnston2

Denis Dufour3

(1) Canadian Space Agency

(2) Canadian Forest Service

(3) Institut national d’optique

CASI ASTRO 2018, May 16th, Québec, Canada

Unclassified


Problems Caused by Wildfire

� More than 1 billion $ yearly cost to manage;

� Significant health and safety hazards to Canadians;

� Smoke generation, degraded air quality;

� Carbon release into the atmosphere;

� Tens of billions of $ of damage and indirect cost:

� Destruction of communities, industrial sites, national and provincial parks;

� Evacuations and health costs;

� Loss or revenues:

� Timber, Energy, Farming, Tourism.

� The amount of wildfire is growing on a yearly basis.


Area Affected by Smoke from Fort McMurray


Carbon Emissions from Wildfire

Canadian Direct Carbon Emissions

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

1958

1960

1962

1964

1966

1968

1970

1972

1974

1976

1978

1980

1982

1984

1986

1988

1990

1992

1994

1996

1998

2000

Year

Meg

ato

nn

es C

arb

on

Fire

Fossil Fuel

Sources:

Fossil fuels: www.nrcan.gc.ca/es/ceo/update.htm

Fire: Amiro, B.D. et al. 2001. Can. J. For. Res. 31: 512-525


Facts about wildland fires in Canada

Average # of forest fires per year: 8,300

Total area burned annually:2.3 million hectares

3% of the fires account for97% of total area burned


Limited Fire Management Resources

7 CASI ASTRO 2018, May 16th, Québec, Canada7

Fire Characterization Data

� Hotspot Locations

� Fire Radiative Power (FRP)

� Rate of Spread (ROS)


Measurements Needed by the Users

• Fire characterization data:

� Every 2 – 3 hours;

� Of every point in Canada;

� For fires as small as 15 m by 15 m;

� Available within 30 min. after data acquisition.

Only possible from space

With a constellation of satellites


Hotspot Data Currently AvailableFrom Satellite Remote Sensing

MODIS VIIRS AVHRR

Sentinel GOES


Limitationsof Available Satellite Infrared Data

� Saturation issues;

� Insufficient temporal or spatial resolution;

� Data latency;

� Time of measurement in the day;

� Coverage of Canadian forests.


Technology Needed

� Current systems rely on cooled Infra-red detectors:

� High sensitivity

→ Overkill for fire monitoring

� High accommodation needs (mass, volume and power)

→ Not suitable for constellations

� Canadian microbolometertechnology

� Low-resource (uncooled) infrared detector

� Sensitivity that is ‘good-enough’ for fire application


CSA Investment History

1. The New InfraRed Sensor Technology (NIRST) was demonstrated with partial results on the NASA

Aquarius mission on-board the Argentine SAC-D spacecraft from 2011-2015.

2. CWFMS – Canadian Wildland Fire Monitoring System

1995 Start of Canada investing in the development of microbolometertechnology for thermal imaging

2007 Start of CSA investing in the development of microbolometertechnology for the fire application.

2011 Technology demonstration of early design in space1

• Was designed for Long-Wave InfraRed (LWIR) so exhibited less adequate performance at Mid-Wave InfraRed (MWIR);

• Without in-flight calibration capability

2016 Completion of feasibility study (CWFMS2) of a Canadianmicrosatellite with the latest microbolometer technology

• Optimum designs for Long-Wave and Mid-Wave InfraRed (LWIR/MWIR) measurements


CWFMSThree-Step Implementation Approach



Scheduled for summer 2019




Different options under consideration



9 sat constellation can provide scan of whole of Canada every 2-3 hours (commercial service?)


Different options under consideration


STEP 2: Demonstration in Space

- Options Considered -

Microsat

1 2 3

Canadian Single Proto-Operational Microsatellite

Mission

Canadian Tech Demo Nanosatellite Mission

Hosting Canadian instrument (micro-

bolometer package) on Belgian Satellite

Payload onlyNanosat


Conclusion

� There is a need for frequent fire monitoring data;

� A low-cost satellite system solution exists, based on microbolometer technology:

� Sensitivity ‘good-enough’ for this application;

� Combining relatively high spatial/temporal resolution.

� An airborne campaign is in preparation for summer 2019;

� Discussions are on-going with Belgium/ESA for a space demonstration opportunity.


Organizations involved to date


Contact Information

• For more information, please contact:

Helena (Marleen) van Mierlo

Canadian Space Agency (CSA)

Tel : (450) 926-7754 / [email protected]


Back-up Slides

22 CASI ASTRO 2018, May 16th, Québec, Canada22

Relevant Wavelengthsmeasured in the infrared and visible spectrum

Spectral Band (μm) Purpose

Visible – Near Infrared

(VNIR)

0.5-0.6

0.6-0.7

0.8-0.9

• Cloud mapping

• Burned area mapping

Short-Wave Infrared

(SWIR)1.6-1.7 • To improve burned area mapping

Mid-Wave Infrared

(MWIR)3.5-4.2

• High Temperature Event (HTE) detection

• Fire Radiative Power (FRP) measurement

Long-Wave Infrared

(LWIR)10.4-12.3

• Surface temperature characterization

• False detection (sun-glint) identification

• Cloud rejection

• Bi-spectral methods for sub-pixel fire

characterization

To obtain

ENERGY


Current State of the Art

� Payload with 3 MWIR + 3 LWIR cameras will provide daily global map;

� Each camera’s detector is a linear array of 1017x3 pixels;

Spectral band

(μm)Purpose

GSD

(m)Sensitivity

Dynamic

Range

MWIR 3.5-4.2For High Temperature Event (HTE) Detection and Fire

Radiative Power (FRP) measurement

400

NETD < 0.3 K

@ 400 K300 - 610 K

NETD < 0.7 K

@ 300 K300 - 440 KLWIR 10.4-12.3

Surface temperature characterization, false detection

(sun-glint) identification, cloud rejection and bi-

spectral methods for sub-pixel fire characterization.

Payload Accommodation Needs

Mass (kg) 41

Volume (mm3) 200 x 536 x 534

Orbit Average Power (W) 16

Peak Power (W) 75

development of a canadian wildland fire monitoring sensor ... · 2. cwfms – canadian wildland...

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