NOAA awards $34 million in grants to improve wildfire monitoring and forecasting

The funding will be split between six cooperative research facilities over the next five years. Additional funding will be used to improve computing power needed for better modeling.

The funding will be split between six cooperative research facilities over the next five years. Additional funding will be used to improve computing power needed for better modeling.

PREDICT THE BEHAVIOR AND IMPACTS OF WILDFIRES. METEOROLOGIST HEATHER WALDMAN JOINS US TO EXPLAIN. YEAH, A TOTAL OF $100 MILLION IN FEDERAL FUNDING IS BEING INVESTED SPECIFICALLY TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF FIRES AND FIRE WEATHER THAT MONEY COMES FROM THE BIPARTISAN INFRASTRUCTURE LAW PASSED IN 2021. $34 MILLION WILL GO DIRECTLY TO SIX OF NOAA’S PARTNER RESEARCH INSTITUTIONS. OVER THE NEXT FIVE YEARS. THESE FACILITIES WILL WORK TO IMPROVE HOW FIRE WEATHER DATA IS GATHERED, HOW THAT DATA IS USED IN HIGH RESOLUTION FORECAST MODELS, AND HOW PRECISELY THOSE MODELS CAN PREDICT FUTURE RISK FOR COMMUNITIES. RIGHT NOW, THE BIGGEST NEED FOR MAKING THESE IMPROVEMENTS IS MORE POWERFUL COMPUTERS. SO WE IMPLEMENT THESE OBSERVATIONS INTO A MODEL. WE. WANT TO RUN IT FASTER. WE WANT TO RUN IT, YOU KNOW, AT A NEIGHBORHOOD SCALE SO THAT WE CAN GET INFORMATION ABOUT WHERE PEOPLE LIVE. UH, AND WHAT THAT MEANS IS IT TAKES A LOT OF COMPUTING POWER TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN. MORE THAN HALF OF THE $100 MILLION IN FUNDING WILL GO TOWARDS WHAT’S CALLED HIGH PERFORMANCE COMPUTING. AS WE KNOW, WILDFIRES CAN SPREAD RAPIDLY AND QUICKLY THREATEN COMMUNITIES. NOAA’S AS THESE COMPUTER UPGRADES CAN ULTIMATELY GIVE DECISION MAKERS MORE ACCURATE AND SPECIFIC INFORMATION AT AN INCIDENT. OTHER RESEARCH WILL FOCUS ON INDIRECT EFFECTS OF WILDFIRES, THINGS LIKE AIR QUALITY FORECASTING AND DEVELOPING BETTER MODELS TO SHOW HOW SMOKE MOVES THROUGH THE ATMOSPHERE. BEFORE ANY NEW TOOLS ARE DEPLOYED, THEY’LL BE SIMULATED IN NOAA’S NEW FIRE WEATHER TESTBED. SO THIS TESTBED IS GOING TO BE A PLACE WHERE WE CAN BRING THOSE IDEAS TOGETHER BETTER AND REALLY ENSURE THAT, YOU KNOW, THAT THE COMMUNITY AND THE USER ARE AT THE TABLE. WE WANT TO DRIVE THE TESTS BASED ON THE REQUIREMENTS THAT THOSE THAT NEED THE TOOLS NEED A FINAL AND VERY IMPORTANT PIECE TO THIS IS IMPROVING HOW WELL INFORMATION IS SHARED WITH THE PUBLIC, ESPECIALLY FOR COMMUNITIES THAT ARE BEING IMMEDIATELY THREATENED BY A

NOAA awards $34 million in grants to improve wildfire monitoring and forecasting

The funding will be split between six cooperative research facilities over the next five years. Additional funding will be used to improve computing power needed for better modeling.

Last week, the Department of Commerce and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced awards for more than $34 million in grant funding for improving the understanding of wildfire behavior. The funding is part of a larger allocation for wildfire preparedness from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that passed in 2021. NOAA said the $34 million will be split between six cooperative research facilities within the agency. Researchers will look for ways to improve wildfire detection and observation technology, as well as high-resolution fire weather models.Jennifer Mahoney, the director of NOAA's Global Systems laboratory, said funding this research is more important than ever as the cost of wildfires increases.“We’ve gone from $89 billion per year in costs for restoring after wildfire impacts to almost $400 billion per year," Mahoney said.In 2023, wildfire activity was relatively low in California, but fires were a big story in other parts of the country. Destructive and fast-moving flames on the island of Maui killed more than 100 people. In the Northeast, days of thick smoke from wildfires in Canada created dangerous air quality conditions.Mahoney said one of the biggest investments being made is in improving computing power. "We want to build better weather models that can bring in that weather and fire information and ingest it into the model and then produce a better weather forecast, and what that means is it takes a lot of computer power to make that happen," Mahoney said.Computer model upgrades will rely on ever-improving satellite technology, which can help detect wildfires in remote areas early on. The goal is to be able to provide detailed forecast information at a community level, giving incident commanders more information when making decisions like evacuations.Money from this grant will also help launch a new "Fire Weather Testbed," a center for forecasters, researchers, developers and incident professionals to collaborate and test new technologies before they're relied on in the field."We want to drive the tests based on the requirements that those using the tools need,” Mahoney said. "And so this testbed is going to be a place where we can bring those ideas together and really ensure that the community and the users are at the table."See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. —

The funding is part of a larger allocation for wildfire preparedness from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law that passed in 2021.

NOAA said the $34 million will be split between six cooperative research facilities within the agency. Researchers will look for ways to improve wildfire detection and observation technology, as well as high-resolution fire weather models.

Jennifer Mahoney, the director of NOAA's Global Systems laboratory, said funding this research is more important than ever as the cost of wildfires increases.

“We’ve gone from $89 billion per year in costs for restoring after wildfire impacts to almost $400 billion per year," Mahoney said.

In 2023, wildfire activity was relatively low in California, but fires were a big story in other parts of the country. Destructive and fast-moving flames on the island of Maui killed more than 100 people. In the Northeast, days of thick smoke from wildfires in Canada created dangerous air quality conditions.

Mahoney said one of the biggest investments being made is in improving computing power.

"We want to build better weather models that can bring in that weather and fire information and ingest it into the model and then produce a better weather forecast, and what that means is it takes a lot of computer power to make that happen," Mahoney said.

Computer model upgrades will rely on ever-improving satellite technology, which can help detect wildfires in remote areas early on. The goal is to be able to provide detailed forecast information at a community level, giving incident commanders more information when making decisions like evacuations.

Money from this grant will also help launch a new "Fire Weather Testbed," a center for forecasters, researchers, developers and incident professionals to collaborate and test new technologies before they're relied on in the field.

"We want to drive the tests based on the requirements that those using the tools need,” Mahoney said. "And so this testbed is going to be a place where we can bring those ideas together and really ensure that the community and the users are at the table."

See more coverage of top California stories here | Download our app.

NOAA awards $34 million in grants to improve wildfire monitoring and forecasting

The funding will be split between six cooperative research facilities over the next five years. Additional funding will be used to improve computing power needed for better modeling.

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