{"id":463969,"date":"2026-06-27T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/science.nasa.gov\/earth\/nasas-pace-mission-studies-smoke-fires\/"},"modified":"2026-06-27T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T14:00:00","slug":"nasas-pace-mission-studies-smoke-fires","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vibewire.com.au\/?p=463969","title":{"rendered":"NASA\u2019s PACE Mission Studies Smoke, Fires"},"content":{"rendered":"
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3 min read<\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s PACE Mission Studies Smoke, Fires<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

With the North American fire season underway, and a record number of acres already burned nationwide, NASA\u2019s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, and ocean Ecosystem (PACE) satellite\u2019s three instruments are observing vegetation precursors to fires, along with plumes of smoke and their movement. This data will help scientists piece together clues that deepen their understanding of wildfires.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe challenge that we have is to take those clues and use them in a meaningful way, so our models of Earth properly represent what\u2019s happening,\u201d said Kirk Knobelspiesse, a remote sensing scientist working on the PACE mission at NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.<\/p>\n

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Wisps of smoke coming from fires in multiple provinces and territories in Canada travel over the Great Lakes. This image was taken by the Ocean Color Instrument aboard NASA\u2019s PACE satellite on May 31, 2025.<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

While the satellite, which launched in February 2024, was designed to study Earth\u2019s ocean and atmosphere, it has an unexpected capability: monitoring changes to vegetation<\/a>. It can also tell us about burn scars, the charred area of land left behind after a wildfire.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PACE satellite observes land too, and does it really well,\u201d said Skye Caplan, terrestrial lead for the PACE mission at NASA Goddard. \u201cThere is so much to explore with a new hyperspectral data set.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Ocean Color Instrument on board PACE is a hyperspectral instrument, observing the planet in several hundred different wavelengths of visible, near infrared, and ultraviolet light. This breadth of the spectrum allows it to gather data on the health of plants, such as their state of stress, dryness, and their relative pigment balance, all of which assist in identifying high fire-risk areas. Land managers can use this data to distribute resources to help mitigate fire risk.<\/p>\n

This instrument views the entire Earth daily, with more frequent coverage at high latitudes. With this frequency, on clear days, PACE scientists can quickly assess the aftermath of fires, determining the location and span of a burn scar. Areas that have been burned by wildfire often see increased flood and landslide risk. It\u2019s important to identify these high-risk areas and monitor how they evolve through time, Caplan said.<\/p>\n

Using wavelengths in the ultraviolet range, the Ocean Color Instrument can also monitor the smoke after a fire, along with information on how high in the atmosphere these particles drift \u2014 height plays a role in how far the particles travel and the systems they impact. The instrument, with its ultraviolet data, expands on fire observations from other satellite instruments, such as the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer.<\/p>\n

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Thick smoke plumes coming from fires raging in multiple provinces and territories in Canada is visible in this image and affecting a large part of the north of the country. This image was taken by the Ocean Color Instrument aboard NASA\u2019s PACE satellite on Aug. 11, 2024.<\/div>\n
NASA<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

The other two instruments on PACE<\/a>, the Hyper-Angle Rainbow Polarimeter 2 and the Spectro-polarimeter for Planetary Exploration one, are rich with information about the composition of aerosols from vastly different regions, said Andrew Sayer, PACE project science lead for atmospheres from the Ocean Color Instrument at NASA Goddard.<\/p>\n

By measuring characteristics of light as it reflects off particles in the atmosphere, these two instruments can determine the quantity of these particles, along with their chemical properties, color, size, and shape. Scientists use this information to differentiate smoke from other particulates. Smoke particulates are typically light absorbing \u2014 appearing gray, black, or brown in color \u2014 and are small in size compared to other aerosols PACE views, such as pollutants and dust.<\/p>\n

Data from PACE will help scientists create more accurate wildfire models and simulate future events, said Knobelspiesse, the satellite\u2019s polarimeter lead.\u00a0\u201cWe\u2019ll be able to then look at different scenarios of emissions in the future and see how smoke that\u2019s created in one location can impact other parts of the Earth system.\u201d<\/p>\n

By <\/strong>Erica McNamee<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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