NASA’s high-altitude research aircraft recently conducted flights over the wildfires in British Columbia to study the weather phenomena caused by these large blazes. The ER-2 plane, which took off from Great Falls, Montana, flew multiple times over B.C.’s southern Interior on a mission lasting over six hours. Notably, data from Flightradar24 indicates that the aircraft spent around four hours flying at an altitude of 60,000 feet over the Clinton area, where the significant Pear Lake wildfire is raging. The aircraft also traversed east over Lake Revelstoke before re-entering U.S. airspace.
NASA’s research focuses on pyrocumulonimbus clouds, described as one of the least understood severe weather types on Earth. These clouds, generated by extreme smoke and heat from wildfires like the Pear Lake fire, can lead to the formation of rain, lightning, and fire tornadoes. The ER-2, a modified Cold War spy plane, is equipped with cutting-edge infrared wildfire trackers to collect crucial data on these phenomena.
The aircraft’s flights aim to monitor and map these hazardous storms in real-time, aiding scientists in predicting and understanding them better in the future. NASA emphasizes the importance of studying these unique weather events to enhance safety for aviators and prevent the ignition of new fires.