The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory is leading a NASA airborne science mission to better understand dangerous wildfire-generated thunderstorms known as pyrocumulonimbus storms, or pyroCb, and the cascading hazards they create for firefighting operations, aviation, weather forecasting and national security.
“Pyrocumulonimbus is a unique type of severe weather linked specifically to wildfires,” said David Peterson, Ph.D., research meteorologist at NRL Monterey and principal investigator for INSPYRE. “Some of these storms produce significant lightning and others produce very little. We know that lightning can ignite new fires, but we don’t yet understand what drives those differences. INSPYRE gives us our first opportunity to study that process with a full suite of airborne lightning measurements.”
The mission, called the Injected Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment, or INSPYRE, is expected to deploy in midsummer 2026 and 2027, using NASA’s high-altitude ER-2 aircraft based in Great Falls, Montana, to study wildfire-driven storms across the western United States and parts of Canada. A second aircraft, NSF/NCAR’s Gulfstream V, will conduct in-situ sampling directly inside pyroCb plumes in 2026, while a ground team led by the University of Nevada, Reno will deploy mobile radar and lidar systems near active fires.
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NRL Leads NASA Wildfire Research Mission to Better Predict Pyrocumulonimbus Storm Hazards
INSPYRE Outreach Inspires Future Scientists at Massachusetts High School
INSPYRE team member Jasna Pittman, part of the Harvard HUPCRS+ instrument team, recently visited Woburn Memorial High School to speak with approximately 40 tenth-grade physics students about airborne science, NASA research aircraft, and the ongoing work of the INSPYRE mission.
As budding future scientists, the students had an opportunity to see how a real-world Earth science mission operates and to learn about the many different pathways scientists, engineers, researchers, and support teams take to contribute to NASA missions and airborne field campaigns. Outreach opportunities like these help connect classroom learning to active scientific research and encourage students to imagine themselves pursuing future careers in STEM fields.
Students were excited to learn about the wide range of projects and career paths represented within NASA and INSPYRE, and were especially thrilled to receive NASA and INSPYRE outreach items provided by the ESPO team.
Following the visit, teachers shared the positive impression the presentation left on students and the excitement it generated around science and research careers. The response was so enthusiastic that Jasna has already been invited back to continue sharing mission updates and campaign experiences with the class.
For more information, contact Jasna Pittman.
7 Takeaways From the Seemingly Endless Fire Season
The Line fire had burned through more than 21,000 acres of Southern California when officials announced Monday morning that it was only 3 percent contained. Amid record temperatures, the blaze quickly ate through dry vegetation, injuring three firefighters and leading to evacuation orders for more than 6,000 people across San Bernardino County.
It’s just one of 67 large wildfires currently burning across more than two million acres of the country. While the end of summer has typically meant a slowdown of major wildfires, climate change has upended that seasonal pattern.
So what’s different about today’s wildfire weather?
