The Amazon spans 2.1 million square miles of rain forest spread over nine countries. And on its edges are miles of agricultural fields, whose farmers routinely burn in order to control pests and weeds, and to encourage new growth.
Brazil is the largest cattle exporter in the world with over 200 million head of cattle. Ranchers often set fires to clear land for grazing, reports the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. However, these long-practiced techniques have raised concerns of the threat that accidental forest fires could pose during drought years. Climate change, which is beginning to show its effects around the world, could exacerbate this threat.
One way we can monitor and help to mitigate these dangers is by collecting detailed imagery and analyzing it. For many years, this was only possible on a rudimentary scale. But relatively recent advances in IoT, satellites, and geographical information systems (GIS) are allowing us to now track the fire location, intensity, and direction. This data collection begins with satellites in space, which literally take high definition pictures of the earth’s surface.
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