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Random freezes, missing sound and display glitches usually trace back to one bad driver. Find and replace yours safely.Free scan · under a minuteWildfires can generate thunderstorms powerful enough to lift smoke high into the atmosphere. NASA’s 2026 INSPYRE campaign is investigating how these fire-generated storms form, when they inject smoke into the stratosphere, and what that smoke may do there. The questions are still open; the campaign is collecting aircraft, ground, and satellite observations to help answer them.
What is a wildfire “fire cloud”?
NASA calls a thunderstorm created by an intense fire a pyrocumulonimbus, or pyroCb; its formal cloud classification is cumulonimbus flammagenitus. A fire’s heat and moisture can drive air upward until a thunderstorm develops. NASA says these storms can produce lightning, rain, and powerful winds that may affect the fire below. NASA’s account of a 2019 flight through a fire cloud describes one such encounter.
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A pyrocumulus, or pyroCu, is a less-developed cloud that can precede a pyroCb. The terms are related, but a pyroCu is not necessarily a fully developed thunderstorm.
What is NASA studying with INSPYRE?
INSPYRE stands for INjected Smoke and PYRocumulonimbus Experiment. NASA describes it as an airborne campaign combining aircraft and ground measurements with satellite observations and modeling. The campaign’s central questions remain unresolved: which fires produce pyroCbs and why; what determines whether they inject smoke into the stratosphere; and how those smoke plumes alter the composition and radiation budget of the upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. NASA’s INSPYRE mission page outlines the project.
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How the aircraft collect observations
During the 2026 field season, an NCAR Gulfstream sampled smoke particles, gases, and ice crystals and measured radiation while flying above, below, and through clouds. NASA’s ER-2 carried 14 instruments to observe fire intensity, updraft speeds, smoke, and cloud properties from above. Ground teams operated sensors to add measurements closer to the fires.
These different vantage points help researchers examine a storm from its source through the cloud and into the atmosphere above it. NASA says the longer-term modeling goal is to improve simulations of pyroCb smoke effects—not that INSPYRE has already produced operational warnings or forecast improvements.
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Why can fire-generated storms matter beyond the fire?
NASA reports that the largest pyroCbs can carry smoke 30,000 to 50,000 feet (10 to 15 kilometers) above Earth, sometimes reaching the stratosphere. Smoke that high can persist for months or longer and travel far from its source, with potential effects on atmospheric chemistry, weather, and climate. Those outcomes vary; not every fire cloud reaches the stratosphere or has the same effects.
The scale of the phenomenon is still being characterized. NASA Earth Observatory reported an estimate of about 70 pyroCbs per year and more than 700 cataloged events since the early 2000s, summarizing a 2025 inventory. It also summarized a 2023 study estimating that wildfires may account for up to 25 percent of black carbon and organic aerosols in the lower stratosphere. These are research estimates, not fixed annual shares or impacts for every event. NASA Earth Observatory’s 2026 overview of fire-cloud research gives the figures and their context.
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Better understanding of fire-generated winds could also help inform forecasts relevant to firefighters. That is a research aim, not a claim that the campaign has already changed operational forecasting.
Why is studying these clouds difficult?
PyroCbs can form and subside within minutes, while finding a fire and coordinating an aircraft flight can take hours. NASA reported that on August 26, 2026, the Gulfstream team encountered a cloud from Idaho’s Wildhorse fire while returning from another fire, then spent three hours sampling its plume. On August 3, a Gulfstream sampled a Widemouth 2 plume at roughly 12 kilometers (about 8 miles) above the surface—a height NASA said is not typically represented in forecast models. NASA’s campaign account describes these flights.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How does INSPYRE differ from NASA’s 2019 fire-cloud flight?
The 2019 flight and the current campaign are connected by the subject of wildfire smoke, but they had different scopes. NASA’s August 2019 account described a DC-8 flight through a wildfire-triggered thunderstorm cloud over eastern Washington during FIREX-AQ, a joint NASA-NOAA field campaign focused on smoke composition and chemistry. INSPYRE, conducted during summer 2026, is organized specifically around pyroCb formation, stratospheric smoke injection, and atmospheric effects, using coordinated aircraft, ground, and satellite observations.
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1Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems2Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches3Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsNASA JPL reports that INSPYRE is led by the Naval Research Laboratory. NASA JPL’s 2026 mission announcement identifies the campaign leadership.
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