Promising sensors detect high-risk lightning strikes which help avoid catastrophic bushfires
A US smart sensing system which detects the lightning strikes most likely to start a fire is being finetuned to Australian conditions in a collaborative NSW Smart Sensing Network (NSSN) Grand Challenge project.
Some of the devastation caused by a bushfire started by a lightning strike in the Currowan State Forest on the NSW South Coast in November 2019. The fire burnt around half a million hectares and destroyed hundreds of properties. Credit: Jamie Kidston, ANU.
In an Australian-first, sensors in the system can detect the component of lightning responsible for ignition.
Combined with satellite data on forest fuel load and vegetation moisture levels across Australia, the system can predict if a bushfire is likely to start.
The project was led by the Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence supported by ANU and Optus in collaboration with Western Sydney University’s Hawkesbury Institute for the Environment, Fire Neural Network (FNN) and government partners.
Remote-sensing expert Associate Professor Marta Yebra is the Director of the Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence which aims to protect Australia from catastrophic bushfires.
“In assessing the system's performance, the FNN’s innovative High-Risk-Lightning Precision Detection System showed promise,” Dr Yebra says.
“Notably, it identified high-risk lightning strikes near fires ignited by lightning in February in the Canberra region.
“While there's room for refinement, our findings suggest potential for more accurate risk assessment in the future.”
(From left to right): Director of the Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence, Associate Professor Marta Yebra; Fire Neural Network Co-Founder and CEO, Dr Istvan Kereszy; Dr Colleen Bryant from ANU’s College of Science; NSSN Natural Hazards Theme Leader Peter Runcie.
The aim of the Instantaneous detection of high risk lightning with pinpoint accuracy project was to provide the earliest possible warning, and accurate location of, lightning strikes at the greatest risk of starting a fire.
The project came after the devastating Australian bushfires in the summer of 2019–20.
A large proportion of these fires were ignited by lightning strikes and extensive areas were burnt largely because of an inability to detect and extinguish ignitions in remote areas before the fires spread and became uncontrollable.
“Through this project, FNN was able to develop a fully autonomous high-risk lightning detector that has its own power supply and internet,” FNN Co-Founder and CEO, Dr Istvan Kereszy says.
“This approach uses solar power and Starlink internet technology and it means that the detectors can be quickly deployed anywhere in Australia.”
The project has also developed a model that can predict the probability of lightning-caused fire occurrence based on identified key drivers.
“Ultimately, the risk of lightning ignition is related to how much moisture is in the system – in the atmosphere and in the fuels,” Dr Colleen Bryant from ANU’s College of Science says.
“Decreasing humidity, soil and fuel moisture, and increasing daily maximum temperatures in the leadup to thunderstorm activity are important predictors of lightning fires.”
The high-risk lightning detector is fully autonomous and uses solar power and Starlink internet technology, meaning it can be deployed in remote locations. Credit: Jamie Kidston, ANU.
NSSN Natural Hazards Theme Leader Peter Runcie says the program has been an excellent example of a project funded by the NSW Smart Sensing Network’s Grand Challenge program.
“It has enabled collaborators from government, academia and business to work together to progress the development of new technology solutions for detecting bushfires,” Mr Runcie says.
“Combining lightning detection with the analysis of lightning characteristics and fuel conditions will provide authorities with an improved ability to identify potential bushfire ignitions as they occur.”
Partners in the project are now applying for funding to demonstrate the system in a longer bushfire season.
FNN's high-risk lightning research is supported by the NSF SBIR and USDA SBIR programs.