NASA data on plant 'sweating' could help predict wildfire severity

Wed, 10 Aug 2022 04:36:42 GMT
Space Daily

Pasadena CA (JPL) Aug 05, 2022 A new study uses data from the ECOSTRESS instrument aboard the space...

A new study uses data from the ECOSTRESS instrument aboard the space station to better understand why some parts of a wildfire burn more intensely than others.

A recent study featuring data from NASA's ECOSTRESS mission found relationships between the intensity of a wildfire and the water stress in plants measured in the months before the blaze.

The correlations weren't just a matter of dry plants burning more than hydrated ones; some areas where vegetation had sufficient water burned more severely, possibly because fires had more fuel to consume.

The research, led by scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, draws on plant water-use data collected by ECOSTRESS, short for the ECOsystem and Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station.

In California - a state with 33 million acres of forests, much of it managed by federal, state, and local agencies - detailed insights on the relationship between wildfire and the availability of water to vegetation could help fire-management officials identify not just whether an area will likely catch fire, but how serious the damage will be if it does.

Comparing the ECOSTRESS data with separate postfire satellite imagery, researchers found that the rate at which plants release water by "Sweating" - a process known as evapotranspiration - as well as how efficiently they use water for photosynthesis, can help predict whether subsequent wildfires are more or less intense.

Tracking Plant Stress Like humans, plants struggle to function when they're too hot.

In much the same way that sweating helps humans stay cool, plants rely on evapotranspiration to regulate their temperature.

High Versus Low Stress In the paper, published in Global Ecology and Biogeography, researchers found that water-stress-related variables, along with elevation, were dominant predictors of burn severity in areas struck by three Southern California wildfires in 2020: the Bobcat Fire in the Angeles National Forest, along with the Apple and El Dorado fires in the San Bernardino National Forest.

In the Sierra Nevada regions burned by the Creek Fire, the Sequoia Complex Fire, and the North Complex Fire, results showed weaker relationships between pre-fire stress and burn severity.