Guest: Chris Van Arsdale, Google Climate & Energy Research Lead

Wildfires aren’t just a summer problem anymore. This past January, California faced an unusual and intense wildfire outbreak, with flames ripping through communities and forcing thousands to evacuate. What if we could catch wildfires in their earliest stages, before they spiral out of control? That’s the goal of Google’s FireSat, a revolutionary satellite system designed to spot fires as small as a campfire and deliver updates every 20 minutes. Today on Weather Geeks, we’re talking to Chris Van Arsdale, a leader behind the FireSat project, about how it all works and how they are using AI to help the firefight before it even starts

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Wildfire Challenges and Firesat
03:10 Chris Van Arsdale's Journey to Google and Climate Research
06:09 Understanding the Firesat Satellite System
09:01 Operational Use and Future of Firesat
11:48 The Role of Google in Wildfire Detection
15:06 Machine Learning and Data Challenges in Fire Detection
18:10 Implications for Firefighting Strategies
20:52 Future Data Applications Beyond Fire Detection
23:58 Global Interest and Collaboration on Firesat
26:49 Environmental and Security Considerations
29:59 Sustainability and Future Launch Plans for Firesat
32:50 Global Applications and Community Engagement
35:56 Final Thoughts on Firesat's Impact

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Detecting Wildfires from Orbit

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