Scientists Fly Into Firestorm Clouds in INSPYRE Mission

A NASA-led team wrapped a first-of-its-kind deployment flying through pyrocumulonimbus clouds, the storm systems that can rival volcanic smoke plumes.

A team of scientists led by NASA, the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory and the National Center for Atmospheric Research has wrapped the first deployment of INSPYRE — the Injected Smoke and Pyrocumulonimbus Experiment — an airborne mission flying over and into the storm clouds that form atop the most intense wildfires, according to PBS. Two aircraft, NASA's Earth Resources-2 flying high above as a "steerable satellite" and NCAR's Gulfstream V sampling smoke plumes directly, worked with truck-mounted radar and lidar and a dedicated forecast effort in a coordinated campaign involving at least 150 people. NRL meteorologist David Peterson, the mission's principal investigator, called the summer deployment "incredibly successful" and described flying through the clouds as an "unworldly experience" with a dark, orange hue and the smell of smoke on board.

In hot, dry, windy conditions with abundant fuel, a wildfire can push a dense plume of water vapor and smoke particles high into the atmosphere, where cooling and condensation spawn a storm cloud that spreads out at the plume's top. PBS reports these "giant chimneys" can inject as much smoke into the stratosphere as a volcanic eruption, and can generate dry lightning that ignites new fires miles away plus storm-force downdrafts that endanger firefighters. "Everything is amplified by orders of magnitude over a regular storm or fire event," NRL meteorologist Michael Fromm told PBS. Only about 15 to 20 years of research exist on the phenomenon, NASA's John Yorks noted, leaving much unknown about how and why they form.

The mission's payoff is direct, in-plume measurement that satellites cannot provide. PBS reports the aircraft sampled the tops of the clouds themselves and the smoke as it was released, data that Desert Research Institute scientist Ziming Ke — who led the first successful Earth-system-model simulation of firestorm clouds in 2025 — says is essential for improving forecasts of lightning and smoke behavior. Peterson told PBS the crews spent the final week chasing a smoke plume from a massive pyroCb in Siberia that crossed the Pacific and reached Idaho, calling it "by far the most comprehensive sampling of something like that." Researchers also aim to quantify how much black carbon, the soot that absorbs solar radiation and heats the atmosphere, survives transport into the upper atmosphere.

The urgency behind INSPYRE reflects a hazard that is growing and spreading. PBS reports that pyrocumulonimbus events have become very large over the past decade, with some pushing smoke to altitudes rivaling or exceeding large volcanic eruptions, and that Australia's 2019–2020 Black Summer produced a "super outbreak" whose smoke persisted in the Southern Hemisphere for more than a year. The phenomenon, most common in North America and Australia, is now appearing in Europe: France logged its first pyrocumulonimbus cloud in the country's recorded history this July amid record heat. Both the smoke and the cloud itself can obscure the flames, hindering evacuations — a key reason forecasters want better prediction tools, Fromm said.

With this year's flights complete, PBS reports the INSPYRE team will now analyze the data in detail and plan a second deployment next year to fill sampling gaps. Meanwhile, the fire season that produced the mission's targets continues across the country. In Oregon, PBS affiliate KMTR reports that the nonprofit United by Nature brought a wildfire-prevention event to an Autzen Stadium tailgate in Eugene, promoting controlled burns, forest management and home hardening as protection measures during the state's ongoing fire season. KMTR also noted a Coos County arson arrest after a brush fire near U.S. 101. In Alabama, WBRC highlighted rising wildfire risk heading into the dry season — the kind of local hazard improved pyroCb forecasting is meant to address.