More on using GOES East and West to detect wildfires

I want to write a little more about how GOES East and West are used to detect wildfires. Some of you may recall that I wrote about how NWS Incident Meteorologists uses GOES East and West on May 3rd where I interview Robyn Heffernan, NWS Science and Dissemination Meteorologist with the National Weather Service National Fire Weather Program Office. Perhaps you want to pause and take a few moments to read my interview with Robyn.

I have been wanting to follow up on that May 3rd article on how GOES East and West are used to detect wildfires. Thanks to my friends at the NWS IMET Office for sharing a great video from GOES 17 (GOES West) showing smoke from the Williams fire on their Facebook Page. I have not been able to find this video on Youtube, so I hope you check out the Facebook post from the NWS IMETs to see this great GOES West imagery.

Here are a couple of videos from NOAA Satellites on Youtube with smoke and wildifre detection imagery.

Direct link to GOES 16 images of smoke and pyrocumulonimbus (pyroCb) in Alberta, Canada in May 2019

Direct link to GOES 17 from northern Saskatchewan, Canada in May 2018

I followed the link in the NWS IMET Facebook page sharing GOES West imagery of the Williams Fire and found some great information on how GOES East and West (also known as the GOES-R series of satellites is use for fire detections. What strikes both about the IMET post is that they mentioned that they can use GOES East and West to detect wildfires from their office. Of course, NWS Forecast Offices have the capability to utilize GOES East and West for wildfire detection as do IMETs in the field. Please take a moment to go and read this short two-page article on using the GOES-R series for fire detection. I'd like to quote from this report about the benefits of GOES-R applications for fire detection:

New ABI channels provide more information to forecasters and improved resolution and rapid scanning deliver high-definition images as often as every minute. This means a much more detailed look at fire conditions, faster detection of hot spots, and the ability to track fire progression and spread in real time to detect changes in a fire’s behavior and predict a fire’s motion. GOES-R Series satellites frequently detect fires before they are spotted on the ground – often before emergency notifications to 911. The satellites are also used to pinpoint the exact location of a fire after reports of smoke. 

GOES-R Series observations are not just valuable for detecting wildfires but are also critical to observing and monitoring smoke from those fires. The ability to monitor smoke plumes in near real-time is particularly useful in directing firefighting efforts from the air. Deploying airplanes and helicopters to spray fire retardant is often hampered due to poor visibility. GOES-R satellites can help guide decisions for deploying flights by providing information on the exact location and motion of smoke from a fire. The smoke detection and monitoring information also enable better air quality forecasts.

Finally if you want to learn a little more about how GOES West (GOES 17) is used for wildfire detection, please see this August 12th twitter post from the NWS Houston retweeted by NWS IMET Operations and take the time to explore the seven tweets from the NWS Houston with different types of GOES 17 wildfire detection imagery.