INFLAMES: Unraveling wildfires from space to society

Background

Wildfires impact ecosystems, air quality, and the climate, with human activities and climate change making them more intense. The INFLAMES-project, funded by NWO, takes an interdisciplinary approach, combining Dutch atmospheric satellite data, computer models, and field research to understand how wildfires evolve and affect the environment around the world. Experts from climate science, ecology, and social sciences work together to study how fire emissions influence air pollution, vegetation, and future climate patterns. By integrating these perspectives, INFLAMES aims to improve wildfire predictions and inform strategies to manage their risks in a changing world.

Objectives

• Assess how wildfires affect air quality and the climate.
• Understand how humans and climate change drive fire behavior.
• Predict future fire activity and its environmental impacts.

Approach

• Use Dutch satellite instruments to measure and refine fire emission data.
• Analyze satellite observations of gases and aerosols (NO₂, CO, smoke) to study fire impacts on urban air quality.
• Leverage new missions like EarthCARE and SpexOne to better distinguish smoke from clouds and understand how fires influence weather and radiation.
• Model how vegetation recovers after fires using satellite data on plant activity and surface reflectance.
• Develop improved projections of global fire trends and practical guidance for fire management and policy.