Getting the inside scoop on wildfire smoke

Faculty of Arts and Science researcher David McLagan has been awarded a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance Society Grant worth $1.17 million over four years for the Black Kite project. The project brings a unique mix of physical, atmospheric and wildfire science together with Indigenous Sciences and Indigenous Fire Stewardship.

“There is an urgent need to address the wildfire crisis in Canada,” Dr. McLagan, from the School of Environmental Studies and Department of Geological Sciences and Geological Engineering, explains. “The successful development and application of the Black Kite has the potential to provide critical near source data on wildfire smoke that is currently lacking and support more effective wildfire management practices resulting in distinct socioeconomic and environmental benefits to Canada.”

Dr. McLagan describes the technology as an air-quality monitoring module that measures around 10 atmospheric pollutants emitted from fires (e.g. carbon dioxide, particulate matter) using a series of light-weight sensors and instruments. The Black Kite module is then attached as a payload on commercial class drone or unpiloted aerial vehicle (UAV), whose mobility and maneuverability enable the system to assess the composition of wildfire plumes much closer to the fires than was previously possible.

“You can fly them into the plume, fly them around the plume, and also measure what’s in the plume at different distances to learn how the chemistry of smoke is changing as we move further away from the fire.”

Dr. McLagan explains the data collected will be of interest to a broad range of users (i.e., atmospheric scientists/modellers, epidemiologists, wildfire agencies, at risk communities) and will provide improved scientific guidance on policies relating to public health and wildfire management.

A major objective of this project is providing further empirical evidence that Indigenous led Cultural Burning and Indigenous Fire Stewardship (IFS) are effective wildfire management strategies, work which will partner with Prince Albert Grand Council, Yukon First Nations Wildfire and the newly established REDFire Lab at the Canadian Forestry Service (CFS). In Canada and around the world wildfire agencies are struggling to cope with increasing risks of wildfire that are driven by climate change and the increasing fuel loads associated with wildfire suppression and timber plantations.  

“Fire agencies know they need to get more fire on the ground, but they lack the capacity to do so due to longer and more intense wildfire seasons. Indigenous People have the Knowledge of how to manage land with fire not just for fuels but for many other cultural and ecological purposes, and there are major efforts to further revitalize that Knowledge; they want autonomy to burn,” explains Dr. McLagan.

Yet there are still many political, jurisdictional, and financial barriers preventing Cultural Burning from being practiced. “Our objective is to get data on Cultural Burning fires that shows how the composition differs, and volume of smoke is reduced in these fires compared to large, destructive wildfires. We will achieve this by providing technology and training transfer to Indigenous Scientists, hired by this project, who are the boots-on-the-ground when it comes to all things fire in their communities.”

The team hopes this will lead to more Indigenous leadership and greater inclusion of IFS in Canadian wildfire management at local, provincial, and national levels.  

Monitoring of the carbon emissions reductions from cultural burning also provides potential to introduce new income streams to Indigenous communities through carbon credit/trading systems and will likely open new opportunities in Indigenous-led wildfire science.

When asked about how Black Kite was developed, Dr. McLagan points to his current Masters student Grant Chenier and the work being done in his Fire, Earth, Water, Air Contaminant Biogeochemistry (FEWA) Lab. “His role has been to drive the technical development of the Black Kite smoke monitoring system, which has been no mean feat. Grant has done an amazing job with this, and he has already been able to take what we believe are the first near-source, air-quality measurements on a wildfire plume with a UAV-based system.

Networks of Black Kite systems, using high tech drone technology, provide potential for “Big Data” and better insight into how smoke health impacts vary by compositional changes linked to plume age, fire intensity, and vegetation type. An incoming PhD student will tackle these questions with help from project partners Hummingbird Drones and Parks Canada.

“We could also provide information on what firefighting crews are being exposed to and what the tolerable limits of smoke exposure for those working in the field, with the UAV or even by deploying it directly on a truck. We are building the system modularly so there are many options.”  

However, Dr. McLagan stresses that for the Black Kite system to reach its potential, it must still go through several critical stages of testing in collaboration with the University of Alberta and the University of Toronto. Queen’s researchers Dr. Melissa Greeff and Dr. Sidney Givigi, who specialize in AI applications for autonomous vehicles, will also lead work that will improve the system robustness by applying machine learning techniques to the data generated across the different components of the project.  

“To me this co-developed project epitomizes multidisciplinarity and teamwork. I am honestly humbled and privileged to be able to work with so many scientists and knowledge holders that I truly admire within this project.”

Learn more about the Alliance Societal Grant on the NSERC webpage.