For years, wildfires have plagued the western parts of North America, destroying huge swaths of forest land, threatening animal species, and putting human lives and property in the path of grave danger. This week, however, scientists from Colorado’s National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) in Boulder have announced a development that may aid in the battle against wildfires in the future.

According to a recent article from Boulder news publication, the Daily Camera, the development comes in the form a of a new computer modeling software that may allow scientists to predict the path, growth, and overall behavior of wildfires. By utilizing satellite data concerning currently active wildfires, as well as simulations of how fires interact with – and react to – certain weather patterns, scientists should be able to provide accurate predictions that can save lives and aid in firefighting efforts.

The project, which included a partnership with the University of Maryland, was led by Janice Coen, an NCAR scientist who has worked extensively with atmospheric modeling and meteorological studies in the past. When Coen decided to put her atmospheric knowledge to work in assessing the behavior of wildfires, she and her team noticed how weather and wildfire mutually affected one another. Since winds can drive wildfires in various directions, and since wildfires change atmospheric temperature and pressure – in turn altering nearby wind patterns – NCAR had to develop a model that took into account the way a wildfire could ostensibly affect itself.

Coen and her team came up with a model that uses satellite data to update ongoing wildfire behavior once or twice in a 24 hour period. By using data from the Little Bear Fire, which raged through New Mexico last year – consuming over 44,000 acres and destroying more than 250 homes along the way – NCAR was able to prove that its model could have accurately predicted the growth and behavior of the fire. Since the model takes stock of the fire every 12 hours or so, it can even adjust its predictions based on firefighters’ efforts to stave off the blaze. It’s a model that could realistically save lives and shorten wildfires in the future.

Of course, the credit can’t all go to the National Center for Atmospheric Research. While Coen developed the computer model – which is currently designated with the name of Coupled Atmosphere-Wildland Fire Environment – it would have been mostly useless without the satellite data that allows it to consistently update its prediction models. The satellite program, called the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite, was created by a team of scientists at the University of Maryland, and is currently operated by NASA and NOAA (the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) to provide global infrared imaging every 12 hours.