Fire is important in Canada’s forest ecosystems because of the change it causes. While a very small percentage of all wildland fires are considered large (greater than 200 hectares), they account for almost all the annual forest area burned.
View Fire M3 hotspots on the Canadian Wildland Fire Service (CWFIS).
The Fire Monitoring, Mapping and Modelling (Fire M3) system uses hotspots identified from coarse- and moderate-resolution infrared satellite imagery to:
- identify, locate and monitor actively burning wildland fires
- estimate daily and annual area burned
- model biomass consumption and smoke emissions
A combination of low- and high-resolution sensors are used to determine:
- location
- fire behavior
- fire severity
While not designed for operational purposes, Fire M3 hotspots, fire perimeter estimates, burned area statistics and fire behaviour estimates are updated repeatably every day. Fire M3 products are used in:
- national reporting
- fire research
- smoke forecasting
- the delivery of current and historical wildland fire information
To monitor and characterize wildland fire activity across the country, the CWFIS’ Datamart makes Fire M3 data available to:
- fire management partners
- researchers
- industry
- the public
Hotspots
Remote sensing (satellite) data is a cost-effective way to achieve a consistent national overview of wildland fire activity in near-real time. However, not all wildland fires can be identified from satellite imagery because either the fires are too small, or cloud cover obscures the satellite's view of the ground.
A hotspot is a satellite image pixel with high infrared intensity, indicating a heat source. Hotspots from known industrial sources are removed with the remaining being wildland fires. A hotspot may represent one fire or be part of several hotspots that represent a larger fire.
The processing of hotspot data involves:
- combining the datasets from multiple sources
- estimating fire weather conditions at hotspot locations using the Canadian Forest Fire Danger Rating System (CFFDRS)
- estimating fire behaviour potential at hotspot locations using the CFFDRS
- mapping approximate fire perimeters and calculating burned area
Fire M3 started in 1998. It was developed at Natural Resources Canada by the Canadian Forest Service and the Canada Centre for Remote Sensing.
- Generating annual estimates of forest fire disturbance in Canada: the National Burned Area Composite (2020)
- Applying geographic information systems and remote sensing to forest fire monitoring, mapping and modelling in Canada (2004)
- Hotspot and NDVI Differencing Synergy (HANDS): A New Technique for Burned Area Mapping over Boreal Forest (2000)
- Information systems in support of wildland fire management decision making in Canada (2002)