Abstract
In 2019 the Canadian Space Agency initiated development of a dedicated wildfire monitoring satellite (WildFireSat) mission. The intent of this mission is to support operational wildfire management, smoke and air quality forecasting, and wildfire carbon emissions reporting. In order to deliver the mission objectives, it was necessary to identify the technical and operational challenges which have prevented broad exploitation of Earth Observation (EO) in Canadian wildfire management and to address these challenges in the mission design. In this study we emphasize the first objective by documenting the results of wildfire management end-user engagement activities which were used to identify the key Fire Management Functionalities (FMFs) required for an Earth Observation wildfire monitoring system. These FMFs are then used to define the User Requirements for the Canadian Wildland Fire Monitoring System (CWFMS) which are refined here for the WildFireSat mission. The User Requirements are divided into Observational, Measurement, and Precision requirements and form the foundation for the design of the WildFireSat mission (currently in Phase-A, summer 2020).
Highlights
Global monitoring of wildfire emissions is supported by the network of geo-stationary weather satellites [1]
In this study we provided an overview of the approach taken to understand Canadian wildfire management Earth Observation (EO) needs and transcribe User Requirements which can be used to develop a purpose-built wildfire monitoring satellite to meet their needs
The User Requirements presented here originate in the requirements for Canadian Wildland Fire Monitoring System (CWFMS) [49], which were refined through consultation of scientific (e.g., [51]) and wildfire management users to produce the User Requirements for the WFS mission
Summary
Global monitoring of wildfire emissions is supported by the network of geo-stationary weather satellites [1]. Finer resolution polar orbiting systems provide further support by correcting for observational biases [2,3,4], and are more commonplace in direct wildfire management applications. Efforts to enhance the uptake of satellite data in wildfire management have been pursued through satellite design (e.g., [8,9,10]) and purpose-built information systems To date no system has successfully delivered end-to-end operational support to address the specific needs of fire managers. In part this is a result of the broad range of wildfire management practices globally and the resulting variation in specific regional requirements for wildfire monitoring. Inability to accurately define the requirements of end-users presents a broad reaching barrier to operational implementation
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