Researchers Sampled Wildfire Smoke Plumes via Aircraft

The INSPYRE team completed aerial sampling to better understand the formation of intense pyrocumulonimbus clouds.

Updated on Sept. 18, 2026 in Environmental

A research aircraft flies into a massive, dense smoke plume high in the sky over a landscape. — NASA researchers recently concluded an aerial mission to collect data from wildfire smoke plumes to improve wildfire behavior and weather forecasting models. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Researchers from NASA and partner institutions recently completed a multi-week deployment using aircraft to fly directly into wildfire smoke plumes. The mission aimed to collect data on pyrocumulonimbus clouds, which are fire-generated storms capable of significant atmospheric impact.

Why it matters

Understanding how these clouds form and interact with the atmosphere is critical for improving both weather forecasting and wildfire behavior models. This work comes as such storm events, previously rare, are being documented in new regions like France.

The INSPYRE mission involved a coordinated effort of 150 researchers using NASA's ER-2 aircraft for remote sensing alongside the NCAR Gulfstream V, which sampled air directly inside smoke plumes. This data is augmented by ground-based truck-mounted radar and lidar systems.

The players

NASA

The U.S. government agency focused on space exploration and Earth science research through advanced aerospace platforms.

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

The corporate research laboratory for the Navy and Marine Corps that conducts broad-based scientific study.

National Center for Atmospheric Research

A research center dedicated to the study of the atmosphere and its impact on weather and climate systems.

The details

Pyrocumulonimbus clouds—intense thunderstorms triggered by the heat and smoke of massive wildfires—were studied by pulling air into onboard instruments during flight. Researchers also tracked a plume that traveled from Siberia across the Pacific Ocean to Idaho to monitor its structure and transformation. The team uses these readings to build a clearer picture of how particles within the smoke rise and influence cloud development, a process that is currently difficult to predict with existing meteorological software.

2019: A proof-of-concept study was conducted by NASA and NOAA.
2019-2020: Australia experienced a super outbreak of pyrocumulonimbus clouds.
July 2026: France recorded its first documented pyrocumulonimbus cloud.
Summer 2026: The INSPYRE mission conducted its first deployment.
September 2026: The team's first summer deployment concluded.

The Tech Race

The study of pyrocumulonimbus activity follows the record-breaking atmospheric events documented during the 2019-2020 Australian super outbreak. Researchers are now racing to build predictive models that can account for these fire-driven storms before they become a standard feature of wildfire seasons.

While this is a research-stage mission, the resulting data will eventually be integrated into weather and fire forecasting models used by emergency services. Improved modeling could lead to more accurate smoke trajectory predictions and earlier warnings for regions affected by wildfire smoke.

The takeaway

The study of these storm systems is essential as they shift from rare occurrences to global phenomena. Future analysis of the summer 2026 flight data will determine how effectively researchers can model these complex events in upcoming fire seasons.