NASA WISE-AIR

Wildfire and Integrated Systems for Environmental AI Research

About the Program

NASA WISE-AIR (Wildfire and Integrated Systems for Environmental AI Research) is a collaboration between Howard University, Fayetteville State University's Intelligent Systems Laboratory (ISL), and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). The project aims to make NASA's wildfire and environmental data more accessible through AI-powered tools that allow users to ask questions in natural language and receive useful, understandable information.

Research Focus and Progress

WISE-AIR is developing an AI-powered system that allows users to explore wildfire activity through natural-language questions. Built using Microsoft Azure AI Foundry, the system interprets user requests, identifies relevant geographic locations and time periods, and retrieves satellite-based wildfire detection data from NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS). The team has developed and tested the underlying data retrieval tools and AI workflows, establishing a foundation for more advanced querying and environmental data integration.

Current research focuses on refining these workflows and expanding how users interact with retrieved information. The team is developing custom plugins to connect WISE-AIR's AI capabilities with NASA's Multi-Mission Geographic Information System (MMGIS), with the goal of supporting interactive maps and geographic visualizations alongside text-based responses. Future work may incorporate additional environmental datasets, including air quality and Digital Twin resources, to provide a broader understanding of wildfire activity and its potential impacts.

Project Resources

NASA FIRMS — https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/

NASA MMGIS (GitHub) — https://github.com/NASA-AMMOS/MMGIS