Team Leader's Message

Though we are still rebuilding our network following our computer melt-down last autumn, we have managed to restore a number of our tools and add some new ones.  The research advances during this period of network rebuilding allow us to provide more scientifically sound tools, as well as present the output from existing tools in ways that more accurately portray their strengths and limitations.

As I stated back in March, our first and foremost obligation is to fulfill our various research commitments.  The computers we need for research are running again.  The tools best known to our user base, such as the BlueSky smoke simulations for the Pacific Northwest, the Ventilation Climate Information System (VCIS), and the Haines Index Climatology, are running once again.  Working with partners at universities and private industry, we have also been able to implement some new products that use BlueSky.

We appreciate your patience as we work to improve all of our research-based tools.  If they seem to progress more slowly than you might wish, please bear in mind that we try to balance access and availability against scientific soundness so that we provide scientifically sound tools to the land and air management communities as quickly as we can.

Brian Potter
AirFire Team Leader
August 10, 2009