The wildfire experiment (WiFE): Observations with airborne remote sensors

Airborne remote sensors have long been a cornerstone of wildland fire research. and recently three-dimensional fire behaviour models fully coupled to the atmosphere have begun to show a convincing level of verisimilitude. The WildFire Experiment (WiFE) attempted the marriage of airborne remote sensors, multi-sensor observations together with fire model development and verification. An interagency array of sensors was mounted on the research Lockheed C-130 aircraft of the National Science Foundation and the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) for this project. Many of our observational goals were reached in a single fire season in this preliminary proof of concept program. In 1998. we observed several large fires within about 1500 km of our base in Colorado (∼3 hours flying time). In mission planning, assisted by the National Fire Information System, we sought extreme and complex fire behaviour and were able to locate some large high intensity wildfires that were superbly imaged by the sensor payload.