Dr. Stavros gave a plenary talk on the wicked wildfire problem and solution space to frame the context for the Keck Institute of Space Science workshop on Detecting and Tracking the Fires that Matter. What is needed, what is possible, how do we build it?
In this talk, Dr. Stavros provides an overview of what the problem is and what a holistic, systematic solution would look like. She defines the fires that matter as “megafires” a sociopolitical term used to describe fires with high impact to human life, health, property, and natural systems.
At this workshop, leading change agents in policy, economics, science, front-line operations, and technology were invited to a closed workshop for a deep dive converging on a problem definition and solution strategy.
The workshop occurred over two-half days in a totally virtual environment. To limit participants to a manageable size for meaningful conversation, and ensure that the workshop met its objectives, the scope was limited to thinking about active fire detection and tracking in the context of what matters. Not all fires are bad, but some can have devastating impacts to human life, health, property, and natural resources. Detecting and tracking the fires that [could] matter involves not merely building a technology to observe fires from space, but to synthesize such observations in the context of the potential for them of having negative impact.
Watch the Wildfire Talk on YouTube:
If you like what you heard, book Dr. Stavros here.