Monitoring the Catastrophic 2018 Mendocino Complex Wildfire Using the Sentinel Constellation

Abstract

The effects of climate change and global warming are taking a toll on the Earth’s environment. Natural disasters have become more frequent and destructive while weather conditions have become more unpredictable and severe. In the summer of 2018, California suffered their largest forest fire as the Ranch and River fires engulfed the northern Californian vegetation region in two months of flames, devouring approximately 1,858 km2 of land, ravaging numerous buildings, and causing multiple injuries and evacuations. The flames rapidly spread and threatened numerous cities and communities due to the gusty, arid, and warmer temperature conditions in the area. Wildfires have been observed and monitored using earth-observation satellites in the past. In this study, measurements from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) aboard the recently-launched Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite are used to analyze the air quality of the burned area. Compared to previous satellites, the S5P TROPOMI provides measurements at higher spatial resolution with daily coverage of the Earth. Measurements of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), and aerosols are compared to demonstrate the burden on the air and the subsequent migration of the atmospheric constituents from the complex fire.

Minho Kim

PhD Candidate

Data-driven, machine learning-based environmental modeling using geospatial data.