During July and August, many fires ravaged through Greece. I'd see the news on TV and in the paper and was amazed at a few things: 1) the # of fires; 2) the size of the fires; and 3) why they were killing so many people. Wildfires don't typically kill over 60 people in the U.S., but we also don't have nearly the fragmented landscape they do.For example, this year there are two fires (East Zone Complex and Cascade Complex) in Idaho that have combined to burn over 600,000 acres. Number of casualties? Zero.
In Greece, their fires burned no more land than that (but in over 200 fires), but killed about 65 people. It's really a sad tale.
Well, one of my coworkers went to Greece to help with on a BAER assignment. She's a soil scientist and knows her stuff well. I was on a BAER assignment for the Neola North Fire earlier this year with her. While she was in Greece, she met with the Greek government to discuss the BARC mapping process and volunteered to get that rolling. So I got a call.
After my Dept. of Interior counterpart ordered and delivered the imagery, I've spent the last three days creating both perimeters and severity maps of these fires. Today alone I mapped seven large complexes that covered over 450,000 acres on the Peloponnese peninsula. It's crazy. The imagery I have (gap-filled Landsat 7) isn't great, but it's sufficient for the job.
The assessment team is heading back to Greece in a few weeks to do some ground verification. Wish I could piggy-back on that assignment, but I'm destined to be an office monkey. Boots on the ground for something like this? No way. Those kinds of opportunities would go to my boss!
3 comments:
Jess, you need some of that half-meter Worldview imagery that just launched a couple days ago. Too bad it won't be available for a few weeks. Also, just tell them that you could do a much better job if you were there, in Greece.
Ezra, tell me more about Worldview. Is this a new sensor, or a mosaicked image product (like the Blue Marble)?
I need imagery acquired after Sept. 1 to be safe and to ensure that the fires have stopped burning.
I didn't even know they were having fires in Greece until I got your e-mail today. A lot has happened since I last checked on your work blog! Wouldn't it be exciting if you could go to Greece. That has always been one of my dream places to visit, mostly because of some terrific books I have read set in Greece. I don't know that I would enjoy it quite as much if so much was burned and that was where I had to go, but I can still dream. I'll keep my fingers crossed for you. That would be an opportunity and a half!!!
Mom
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