{"id":21152,"date":"2020-05-29T15:20:00","date_gmt":"2020-05-29T15:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.maapprogram.org\/amazon-fire-app2\/"},"modified":"2025-04-14T12:04:11","modified_gmt":"2025-04-14T12:04:11","slug":"amazon-fire-app2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.maapprogram.org\/es\/amazon-fire-app2\/","title":{"rendered":"MAAP #118: Real-Time Fire Monitoring in the Amazon"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Image 1. First Major Amazon fire of 2020, in Mato Grosso, Brazil. Data: Planet.<\/div><\/div>\n

In time for the next fire season, we are relaunching an improved version of our\u00a0Amazon real-time fire monitoring app<\/strong><\/a>, hosted by\u00a0Google Earth Engine.<\/p>\n

When fires burn, they emit gases and aerosols.* A new satellite\u00a0 (Sentinel-5P from the European Space Agency) detects these\u00a0aerosol emissions<\/strong>.*<\/p>\n

The\u00a0major feature of the app\u00a0is user-friendly and real-time\u00a0identification of major fires\u00a0<\/strong>across the Amazon, based on the aerosol emissions detected by Sentinel-5P.<\/p>\n

The app also contains the commonly-used \u00abfire alerts<\/b>,\u00bb which are satellite-based data of temperature anomalies.*<\/div>\n
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Thus, the user combine data from the atmosphere (aerosol) with data from the ground (temperature) to\u00a0pinpoint the source of major fires<\/b>.<\/div>\n

Since the data updates daily and is not impacted by clouds,\u00a0real-time monitoring<\/strong>\u00a0really is possible. Our goal is to upload each day\u2019s new image by midnight.<\/p>\n

Using the app, we recently identified the first major Amazon fire of 2020<\/strong> on May 28, in the state of Mato Grosso in Brazil. It was burning an area recently deforested in July 2019.<\/p>\n

Below, we provide instructions on how to use the app, with the May 28 fire as an example.<\/p>\n

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Instructions &
\n<\/strong>How We Identified First Major Brazilian Amazon Fire of 2020<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Step 1.<\/strong> Open real-time fire monitoring app<\/strong><\/a>, hosted by Google Earth Engine. Scan the Amazon for\u00a0aerosol emissions<\/strong> of major fires (indicated in yellow, orange, and red<\/span><\/strong>). In this case, we spotted elevated emissions in the southeast Brazilian Amazon (on May 28, 2020).\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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\nStep 2.<\/strong> Click the \u201cLayers<\/strong>\u201d menu in the upper right for more options. For example, clicking \u00abState\/Department Boundaries<\/strong>\u00bb we see the emissions are coming from Mato Grosso. Note you can also add \u00abProtected Areas<\/strong>\u00bb and check the dates of the images and alerts.<\/p>\n

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Step 3.<\/strong> Zoom in on the aerosol emissions.<\/p>\n

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Step 4.<\/strong> Adjust (slide down) the transparency of the emissions layer to see the underlying fire alerts<\/strong>. We use the alerts to pinpoint the source of emissions (see purple circle). Obtain coordinates of the alerts by clicking on the map and then checking the \u00abCoordinates\u00bb bar on the left\u00a0 (below\u00a0 Instructions).\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

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Step 5.<\/strong> We entered the coordinates into Planet Explorer<\/a> and found a high-resolution image for that same day (May 28), confirming the first major Amazon fire of 2020<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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Predicting 2020 Brazilian Amazon Fires<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Using the\u00a0 Planet archive, we discovered that this exact area was deforested between July and August 2019, and then burned in May 2020. This fits our recent major finding that many Brazilian Amazon fires are actually burning recently deforested areas (MAAP #113<\/a>). For more on how to predict upcoming fires based on recent deforestation, see MAAP #119<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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*Notes<\/strong><\/h3>\n