In Southern California, the Santa Ana winds arrive every year and are known to fan wildfires in the region. Many of these wildfires are set by humans, both intentionally and unintentionally. To make fighting these fires easier, scientists are mapping sattelite and airborne data onto maps to see where the hottest parts of the fire is located. Miller-McCune has published an article on how the is accomplished at San Diego State University’s Immersive Visualization Center.
Data fusion is the name of the game at the San Diego State University’s Immersive Visualization Center — layering sophisticated weather, atmospheric, smoke and fire data and images onto, say, a topographical Google Earth map (www.earth.google.com). It provides an illuminating picture for emergency operations chiefs who urgently need to pinpoint trouble spots and interpret fast-changing developments.
