NASA Tests Drones to Provide Micrometeorology, Aid in Fire Response

In Aug. 2024, a team of NASA researchers and partners gathered in Missoula, to test new drone-based technology for localized forecasting, or micrometeorology. Researchers attached wind sensors to a drone, NASA’s Alta X quadcopter, aiming to provide precise and sustainable meteorological data to help predict fire behavior. Wildfires are increasing in number and severity around […]

Feb 13, 2025 - 23:03

5 Min Read

NASA Tests Drones to Provide Micrometeorology, Aid in Fire Response

Brayden Chamberlain, UAS Pilot in Command, performs pre-flight checks on the NASA Alta X uncrewed aerial system (UAS) during NASA FireSense’s uncrewed aerial system (UAS) technology demonstration in Missoula, Montana.

Pilot in command Brayden Chamberlain performs pre-flight checks on the NASA Alta X quadcopter during the FireSense uncrewed aerial system (UAS) technology demonstration in Missoula.

Credits: NASA/Milan Loiacono

In Aug. 2024, a team of NASA researchers and partners gathered in Missoula, to test new drone-based technology for localized forecasting, or micrometeorology. Researchers attached wind sensors to a drone, NASA’s Alta X quadcopter, aiming to provide precise and sustainable meteorological data to help predict fire behavior.

Wildfires are increasing in number and severity around the world, including the United States, and wind is a major factor. It leads to unexpected and unpredictable fire growth, public threats, and fire fatalities, making micrometeorology a very effective tool to combat fire.

This composite image shows the NASA Alta X quadcopter taking off during one of eight flights it performed for the 2024 FireSense uncrewed aerial system (UAS) technology demonstration in Missoula, Montana. Mounted on top of the drone is a unique infrastructure designed at NASA Langley to carry a radiosonde and an anemometer – two sensors that measure wind speed and direction – into the sky. On the ground, UAS Pilot in Command Brayden Chamberlain performs final pre-flight checks.

This composite image shows the NASA Alta X quadcopter taking off during one of eight flights it performed for the 2024 FireSense UAS technology demonstration in Missoula. Mounted on top of the drone is a unique infrastructure designed at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton,Virginia, to carry sensors that measure wind speed and direction into the sky. On the ground, UAS pilot in command Brayden Chamberlain performs final pre-flight checks.

NASA/Milan Loiacono

The campaign was run by NASA’s FireSense project, focused on addressing challenges in wildland fire management by putting NASA science and technology in the hands of operational agencies.

“Ensuring that the new technology will be easily adoptable by operational agencies such as the U.S. Forest Service and the National Weather Service was another primary goal of the campaign,” said Jacqueline Shuman, FireSense project scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley.

The FireSense team chose the Alta X drone because the U.S. Forest Service already has a fleet of the quadcopters and trained drone pilots, which could make integrating the needed sensors – and the accompanying infrastructure – much easier and more cost-effective for the agency.

UAS Pilot in Command Brayden Chamberlain flashes a ‘good to go’ signal to the command tent, indicating that the NASA Alta X quadcopter is prepped for takeoff.

The UAS pilot in command, Brayden Chamberlain, flashes a “good to go” signal to the command tent, indicating that the NASA Alta X quadcopter is prepped for takeoff. Behind Chamberlain, the custom structure attached to the quadcopter holds a radiosonde (small white box) and an anemometer (hidden from view), which will collect data on wind speed and direction, humidity, temperature, and pressure.

NASA/Milan Loiacono

The choice of the two sensors for the drone’s payload was also driven by their adoptability.

The first, called a radiosonde, measures wind direction and speed, humidity, temperature, and pressure, and is used daily by the National Weather Service. The other sensor, an anemometer, measures wind speed and direction, and is used at weather stations and airports around the world.

Two images sit side by side. On the left, a small white box with a silver antenna coming out the top and a black antenna coming out the bottom sits in a black structure. On the right, a silver cylinder protrudes from a black base, with two silver, interlocking rings forming a sphere on top. In the back of both photos is a green field.

The two sensors mounted on the NASA Alta X quadcopter are a radiosonde (left) and an anemometer (right), which measure wind speed and direction. The FireSense teams hopes that by giving them wings, researchers can enable micrometeorology to better predict fire and smoke behavior.

NASA/Milan Loiacono

“Anemometers are everywhere, but are usually stationary,” said Robert McSwain, the FireSense uncrewed aerial system (UAS) lead, based at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. “We are taking a sensor type that is already used all over the world, and giving it wings.”

Anemometers are everywhere, but are usually stationary. We are taking a sensor type that is already used all over the world, and giving it wings.

Robert Mcswain

FireSense Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Lead

Both sensors create datasets that are already familiar to meteorologists worldwide, which opens up the potential applications of the platform.

Current Forecasting Methods: Weather Balloons

Traditionally, global weather forecasting data is gathered by attaching a radiosonde to a weather balloon and releasing it into the air. This system works well for regional weather forecasts. But the rapidly changing environment of wildland fire requires more recurrent, pinpointed forecasts to accurately predict fire behavior. It’s the perfect niche for a drone.

Two photos sit side by side. on the left, three male college students work on a large white balloon about three feet in diameter: one is kneeling with a large metal gas canister, the middle student holds the balloon up, and the third student holds a small white instrument attached to the balloon via string. On the right, the same large white balloon drifts into the sky, which is medium blue and mottled with gray clouds.

Left: Steven Stratham (right) attaches a radiosonde to the string of a weather balloon as teammates Travis Christopher (left) and Danny Johnson (center) prepare the balloon for launch. This team of three from Salish Kootenai College is one of many college teams across the nation trained to prepare and launch weather balloons.
Right: One of these weather balloons lifts into the sky, with the radiosonde visible at the end of the string.

NASA/Milan Loiacono

“These drones are not meant to replace the weather balloons,” said Jennifer Fowler, FireSense’s project manager at Langley. “The goal is to create a drop-in solution to get more frequent, localized data for wildfires – not to replace all weather forecasting.”

The goal is to create a drop-in solution to get more frequent, localized data for wildfires – not to replace all weather forecasting.

Jennifer Fowler

FireSense Project Manager

Drones Provide Control, Repeat Testing, Sustainability

Drones can be piloted to keep making measurements over a precise location – an on-site forecaster could fly one every couple of hours as conditions change – and gather timely data to help determine how weather will impact the direction and speed of a fire.

Fire crews on the ground may need this information to make quick decisions about where to deploy firefighters and resources, draw fire lines, and protect nearby communities.

A reusable platform, like a drone, also reduces the financial and environmental impact of forecasting flights.

“A weather balloon is going to be a one-off, and the attached sensor won’t be recovered,” Fowler said. “The instrumented drone, on the other hand, can be flown repeatedly.”

The NASA Alta X quadcopter sits in a field in Missoula, Montana, outfitted with a structure engineered at Langley Research Center to carry a radiosonde and an anemometer into the air. In the background, two deer make their way across the field. The drone and its payload were part of the August 2024 FireSense campaign, which looked at the applicability of using controllable, repeatable airborne measurements to more accurately predict fire and smoke behavior.

The NASA Alta X quadcopter sits in a field in Missoula, outfitted with a special structure to carry a radiosonde (sensor on the left) and an anemometer (sensor on the right) into the air. This structure was engineered at NASA’s Langley Research Center to ensure the sensors are far enough from the rotors to avoid interfering with the data collected, but without compromising the stability of the drone.

NASA/Milan Loiacono

The Missoula Campaign

Before such technology can be sent out to a fire, it needs to be tested. That’s what the FireSense team did this summer.

Smoke from the nearby Miller Peak Fire drifts by the air control tower at Missoula Montana Airport on August 29, 2024. Miller Peak was one of several fires burning in and around Missoula that month, creating a smoke-impacted environment which, combined with the mountainous terrain, makes traditional forecasting methods difficult: a problem the FireSense team is working to solve.

Smoke from the nearby Miller Peak Fire drifts by the air control tower at Missoula Airport on August 29, 2024. Miller Peak was one of several fires burning in and around Missoula that month, creating a smokey environment which, combined with the mountainous terrain, made the area an ideal location to test FireSense’s new micrometeorology technology.

NASA/Milan Loiacono

McSwain described the conditions in Missoula as an “alignment of stars” for the research: the complex mountain terrain produces erratic, historically unpredictable winds, and the sparsity of monitoring instruments on the ground makes weather forecasting very difficult. During the three-day campaign, several fires burned nearby, which allowed researchers to test how the drones performed in smokey conditions.

A drone team out of NASA Langley conducted eight data-collection flights in Missoula. Before each drone flight, student teams from the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, and Salish Kootenai College in Pablo, Montana, launched a weather balloon carrying the same type of radiometer.

Two images sit side by side. On the left, a team of six college students gather around a giant white weather balloon, some standing some sitting. On the ground around them are gear like a tarp, gas lines, and multiple gas canisters. In the photo on the right, two adult men hold a large quadcopter drone sideways between them, rotors akimbo.

Left: Weather balloon teams from University of Idaho and Salish Kootenai College prepare a weather balloon for launch on the second day of the FireSense campaign in Missoula.
Right: NASA Langley drone crew members Todd Ferrante (left) and Brayden Chamberlain (right) calibrate the internal sensors of the NASA Alta X quadcopter before its first test flight on Aug. 27, 2024.

Once those data sets were created, they needed to be transformed into a usable format. Meteorologists are used to the numbers, but incident commanders on an active fire need to see the data in a form that allows them to quickly understand which conditions are changing, and how. That’s where data visualization partners come in. For the Missoula campaign, teams from MITRE, NVIDIA, and Esri joined NASA in the field.

An early data visualization from the Esri team shows the flight path of different weather balloon launches from the first day of the FireSense uncrewed aerial system (UAS) technology demonstration in Missoula, Montana. The paths are color coded by wind speed, from purple (low wind) to bright yellow (high wind).

An early data visualization from the Esri team shows the flight paths of weather balloons launched on the first day of the FireSense UAS technology demonstration in Missoula. The paths are color-coded by wind speed, from purple (low wind) to bright yellow (high wind).

NASA/Milan Loiacono

Measurements from both the balloon and the drone platforms were immediately sent to the on-site data teams. The MITRE team, together with NVIDIA, tested high-resolution artificial intelligence meteorological models, while the Esri team created comprehensive visualizations of flight paths, temperatures, and wind speed and direction. These visual representations of the data make conclusions more immediately apparent to non-meteorologists.

What’s Next?

Development of drone capabilities for fire monitoring didn’t begin in Missoula, and it won’t end there.

“This campaign leveraged almost a decade of research, development, engineering, and testing,” said McSwain. “We have built up a UAS flight capability that can now be used across NASA.”

This campaign leveraged almost a decade of research, development, engineering, and testing. We have built up a UAS flight capability that can now be used across NASA.

Robert Mcswain

FireSense Uncrewed Aerial System (UAS) Lead

The NASA Alta X and its sensor payload will head to Alabama and Florida in spring 2025, incorporating improvements identified in Montana. There, the team will perform another technology demonstration with wildland fire managers from a different region.

To view more photos from the FireSense campaign visit: https://nasa.gov/firesense

The FireSense project is led by NASA Headquarters in Washington and sits within the Wildland Fires program, with the project office based at NASA Ames. The goal of FireSense is to transition Earth science and technological capabilities to operational wildland fire management agencies, to address challenges in U.S. wildland fire management before, during, and after a fire.