2000 EARTH SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID | Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| FIRES ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE WORLD | G00-080 | 09/05/00 | 00:11:15 | As fires continue to rage throughout the Western United States, researchers from NASA and other institutions are studying the phenomenon in a very different environment: southern Africa. A different philosophy reigns there regarding fires, as they do not consider it a natural disaster as we may, but an integral function of the tropical grassland ecosystem. It is used to promote greener grass for grazing, prevent larger wildfires, land clearing and preparation for agriculture.
The goal of SAFARI 2000 regarding fires is to better understand the nature of emission products (gases and aerosol particles) from fires in Africa. Researchers used ground-based instruments and sensors mounted on aircraft to measure emissions from the fires, the extent and severity of the burn scar, and to estimate how much biomass was consumed by flame. That data was then compared with data from the Terra and Landsat 7 spacecraft to measure the impacts of fire on climate and the environment on a global scale.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): CONTROLLED BURN ON GROUND - The video shows the controlled burn of an experimental plot in Kruger National Park (a big game reserve) in South Africa on August 15. A few acres were ignited within the plot that has been used for ecosystem studies for several decades. Researchers observed this and the August 20 fires from air by the NASA ER-2, two South African Weather Bureau planes, the University of Washington's Convair-580 and from space by NASA's Terra and Landsat 7 spacecraft.
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| ITEM (2): AERIAL VIEW OF SET FIRE - Prescribed burns are a common practice in southern Africa to reduce fire danger from the build-up of dry grasses. This footage was taken on August 20 above the Madikwe Game Reserve in South Africa near the border
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| ITEM (3): SATELLITE VIEW OF FIRES -Researchers involved in the SAFARI 2000 mission planned each day according to data from instruments like the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) onboard NOAA's Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite (POES). The data here includes Angola, Congo, Zambia, Mozambique and Tanzania, home to some of Africa's heaviest fires.
Courtesy: NASA / NOAA
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| ITEM (4): ER-2 AIRCRAFT - NASA's single-pilot ER-2 aircraft was deployed to measure emissions from the fire, the extent and severity of the burn scar, and to estimate how much biomass was consumed by flame. The University of Washington's Convair-580 was also used.
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| ITEM (5): NASA RESEARCHERS IN AFRICA - - Gateway International Airport in Pietersburg, South Africa provides the runways for takeoffs and landings of research aircraft.
- Earth Science Enterprise booth set up to educate people on NASA's efforts to study climate and earth science systems.
- A NASA researcher standing in front of an ER-2 plane.
- Beauty shot of area
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| ITEM (6): TERRA - Terra's primary objective is to study Earth's lands, oceans, air, ice and life functions as a planet-wide system. The fires were set in conjunction with Terra's orbit so that it could best study the results. In particular, its Moderate-Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) and Multi-Angle Imaging Spectroradiometer (MISR) instruments looked at land surface temperature, fire properties, and aerosols.
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| ITEM (7): LANDSAT 7 - NASA's Landsat 7 provided fine-scale land-cover change as the fires occurred.
Courtesy: NASA / USGS
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