Self-service data platforms DEA Bushfire Burnt Area NRT Services
Last updated:18 June 2024
See bushfires in the landscape. Spot areas of high temperature
Digital Earth Australia (DEA) offers self-service satellite analysis platforms that allow users to visualise the Australian landscape and identify active bushfire events, delineate burnt areas, and then provide insights to other data sources about how bushfire could threaten communities and property.
Use DEA’s freely available near real-time imagery, DEA Hotspots Data, derived products, and scientific workflows through DEA Maps and the Jupyter notebooks in the DEA Sandbox to examine, investigate, delineate and track burnt areas across Australia.
Sentinel-2A - 2019-09-09 - Yamba, NSW - DEA Surface Reflectance Normalised Burn Ratio - NIR, SWIR - False colour and true colour image of fire burning south of Yamba.
Sign up to DEA Sandbox and jump in to investigate using EO data
DEA Sandbox is a learning and analysis environment with access to Earth Observation datasets and Jupyter notebooks that allow you to explore and investigate local-scale applications.
Use Jupyter notebook and NRT satellite imagery to investigate burnt areas
Investigate burnt areas in detail with near real-time satellite imagery in the DEA Sandbox. This workflow enables the use of DEA’s freely available near real-time (NRT) imagery for investigating recent fire events.
The Jupyter notebook outlines a workflow to select the most suitable ‘near real-time’ and baseline imagery for comparison from the Landsat 8 & 9 and Sentinel-2A & Sentinel-2B sensors. Value thresholding is applied to detect unverified burnt areas, before creating an exportable polygon vector file. The workflow examines an area in Tambaroora NSW directly after a bushfire in March 2023. Update the location and time to investigate your own area of interest.
DEA Burnt Area NRT interactive map
Visit DEA Maps to get the full interactive map with DEA Burnt Area NRT and other DEA products.
How can observing burnt area help?
- Enables users to identify and assess bushfire events and impacts in remote areas
- Provide insights to emergency managers and helps to inform preparedness and response activities
- Use with DEA Hotspots to locate potential bushfires that are currently or recently active and then investigate the size, location and extent of an event with near real-time satellite imagery
- Compare before and after bushfire burnt area data in any location Australia-wide
Related resources
What is a Hotspot?
Hotspots indicate areas producing high levels of infrared radiation detected through analysis of satellite imagery.
Finding water to fight fire
Satellite data maps of Australian waterbodies are fuelling a more confident flightpath for Victoria’s CFA.
Landsat at work during Black Summer
The partnership between Geoscience Australia and the USGS Landsat program meant satellite imagery was on-hand to assist responders during Australia’s 2019–20 bushfires.
Join our community
Slack for support
Ask questions of the many data and spatial analysts, developers and scientists managing and experimenting with DEA data
Express your interest
Got a project that needs a big picture? We’re open to collaborative projects with government, industry and communities that serve Australia’s future.
Get our newsletter
Stay informed of new products, seminars and learning opportunities from DEA and our partners