A NASA high-altitude research aircraft conducted flights over the wildfires in British Columbia over the weekend to enhance understanding of the weather phenomena associated with large fires. The ER-2 plane was tracked online as it flew multiple times over B.C.’s southern Interior on Saturday, departing from Great Falls, Montana, on a more than six-hour mission. Data from Flightradar24 revealed that the aircraft spent approximately four hours at an altitude of 60,000 feet above the Clinton area, where the significant Pear Lake wildfire has been active. It then traveled eastward over Lake Revelstoke before reentering U.S. airspace.
NASA’s research with the ER-2 aircraft focuses on pyrocumulonimbus clouds, described as one of the lesser-known severe weather phenomena on Earth. The B.C. Wildfire Service reports that the Pear Lake wildfire, covering nearly 1,500 square kilometers, has generated such clouds due to extreme smoke and heat, leading to the formation of rain, lightning, and fire tornadoes.
The ER-2, a modified Cold War spy plane, a variant of the U-2, has set altitude records exceeding the typical commercial flight levels. The aircraft is equipped with advanced infrared wildfire tracking systems to collect data on pyrocumulonimbus clouds. NASA states that these unique storms, characterized by smoke and lightning, can pose risks to aircraft above and ignite new fires below. Real-time monitoring and mapping of these storms aim to improve future forecasting capabilities for scientists.
