WRAP: Partners | Tactical Fire Remote Sensing Advisory Committee




		Tactical Fire Remote Sensing Advisory Committee (TFRSAC)



	Management Approach (For larger image - click on the thumbnail)

Fire is of interest to the earth science community for three main reasons: 1) it is a major element of land cover change, playing a key role in ecosystem development, 2) fire emissions are a major source of trace gases, aerosols and black carbon into the atmosphere, affecting atmospheric chemistry and physics, 3) fire is a critical process in the global carbon cycle by rapidly transforming sinks into sources of atmospheric gas.
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The US Forest Service (USFS) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) have a common interest in evolving new sources of information and knowledge management tools to improve understanding, and wherever necessary, mitigate the effects of wildfires. Past years have seen a rise in both the number and intensity of fires, creating a challenging operational situation.

The WRAP project organized and founded a Tactical Fire Remote Sensing Advisory Committee (TFRSAC), composed of fire management practitioners, remote sensing scientists, GIS specialists, and industry and university affiliates to formulate a tactical fire information gap analysis and prioritize development and transfer technologies related to those gaps. Four key focus-areas were defined by the TFRSAC: develop and demonstrate improved airborne platform capabilities (manned and UAS); demonstrate new sensor capabilities for enhanced fire discrimination; demonstrate new data telemetry capabilities for ?real-time? data distribution; develop and demonstrate a Collaborative Decision Environment (CDE) capability to effect improvements to tactical fire decision support systems.

The Forest Service (end-user / customer), through the creation of the Tactical Fire Remote Sensing Advisory Committee (TFRSAC), have defined primary focus elements of the NASA-lead research and development efforts. By partnering with the Forest Service, we ensure that NASA provides the critical R&D elements necessary for successful implementation of a tactical wildfire disaster assessment and management system.

This advisory committee consists of the stakeholders (USFS and NASA), guiding the research and demonstration directions of the science team. The management approach that drives the establishment of the TFRSAC can be seen in the accompanying figure. Partners on this committee participate in committee meetings twice a year to coordinate and facilitate technology transfer elements as they relate to fire imaging, data ingestion, and data and information decision support system integration and utility.

Each year the TFRSAC meets twice (Spring and Fall) to develop and investigate new and evolving capabilities for improved fire observation. The TFRSAC welcomes new members to help evaluate these critical components and those interested may contact Evertt Hinkley, TFRSAC Chairperson, at ehinkley@fs.fed.us.

NASA \| Earth Science Division \| USDS Forest Service
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