Research Highlights

JAXA, Japanese newspaper company Asahi Shimbun, and Dr. Fukuda and his colleagues will investigate the effect of 2004 Alaskan large forest fire on terrestrial environment in summer, 2006. They will observe the same region from the plane of Asahi Shimbun and the Advanced Land Observing Satellite "Daichi" (ALOS) as well as conduct field research. This is the world's first feature of the boreal forest fire research seen in three perspectives.

We can only investigate limited areas and obtain data of those points by field works. Dr. Fukuda and his colleagues have utilized satellite data and research larger areas. The observation from a plane will compensate for the research between the satellite observation and the fieldwork. The plane will fly at a low altitude in two parallel tracks and take stereophonic photographs to figure out the forest damage three-dimensionally. Integration of the observation in three perspectives makes the results accurate and clear. In May 2006, rehearsal of this observation has completed in Hokkaido, Japan.

Boreal forest in the Arctic is a hot spot of fires. In Alaska, more than 200 forest fires engulfed about 860 square kilometers by mid-July this year. But even worse Alaskan forest fire in 2004 damaged about 2,500,000 ha from June to December. The fire near Fairbanks burned not only trees but also soils covering the ground.

Such large forest fire changes the environment around the forest, for example, melting permafrost, variation of groundwater and soil flowage. Forest recovery would be different from the result after the small forest fire. The change of Alaskan forest environment would affect the amount of carbon dioxide which absorbed and emitted by the forest. It has an influence not only on the Arctic but also on the global environment. It is important to detect forest fires and stop spreading.

Additionally, forests are damaged by insects these days. The damage is severe in Kenai Peninsula and one of the possible causes is global warming.

Five groups engage in field activities. Each group works together in various areas.

Management Group

Summarizing the results, and making a quantitative indicator of the forest fire's effect on the permafrost

Permafrost Group

Investigation of geomorphological change, drilling survey with depth of 5-10 m, investigation of ground temperature, and exploration of subsurface structure by radar

Hydrology Group

Long-term monitoring of hydrological circulation, measurements of snowmelt rate, river water quality, soil flowage, and CO2 emission from ground surface, and investigating the relation between ground temperature, moisture, thermal conductivity and vegetative restoration

Ecosystem Group

Investigating ecosystem variation by different scale of forest fires, and measuring the amount of root, organic and inorganic material in the ground

Fire Detection and Prediction Group

Forest fire observation from northwestern Canada to eastern Siberia by satellite images, calculating and forecasting fire propagation by IARC-JAXA Information System (IJIS), investigating the relation between damage by fire and insects and spectroscopic characterization of vegetation