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USING EARTH OBSERVATION DATA TO IDENTIFY WILDFIRES

Addressing the NASA SpaceApps 2021 challenge,

Measuring value of Earth Observations

By Team Matrix

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HOW WE ADDRESSED THE CHALLENGE

  • Our goal in this challenge was to gather evidence to measure the value of earth observation and how it benefits people and the environment
  • Since this topic is a broad area we have decided to base our research on how EO data is being used to detect and manage wildfires
  • We gathered evidence to show how earth observation data actively affect the operations against wildfires by using reports and articles.
  • Finally taking an additional step even further, we discovered some problems with the current EO technologies and provided possible solutions through new technological developments for them as well.

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USING EARTH OBSERVATION DATA

  • Many Countries and Organizations uses Earth observation data to make decisions related to managing wildfires.
  • EO data can provide much more accurate data when compared with the traditional methods of wildfire monitoring.
  • In an event of a wildfire, EO data contributes in every step to make the best possible decisions to minimize negative outcomes.

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OUTCOMES

  • By using EO data, decision-makers get access to wide area of information which can be used to improve the outcome of each scenario.
  • However, the expected outcome from using technology cannot be gained due to various reasons such as Global warming. In our report we addressed this matter as well.

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DISCUSSION

  • However, there are few problems when considering widely used optical imagery methods for monitoring wildfires.
  • These problems will be separately addressed in our final report.
  • In our report we provided some possible solutions for those problems that involves radar imagery and UAV technology for better results.

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When comparing with the traditional wildfire monitoring methods, Using earth observation data can lead to positive improvements in categories such as,

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  • Early warning systems
  • Post-fire assessments
  • Smoke cloud tracking and emission assessments

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These kind of use cases will be further mentioned in the detailed report along with the real world examples.

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In conclusion, we can say that Earth observation is valuable resource when it comes to the fight against wildfires.

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REFERENCE LINKS

Images used in the presentation:

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