Why Studying Wildfires is Important
I start my work in the office by reading some academic papers to learn what other researchers already know about wildfires and their causes. Studying wildfires is important because climate change is making wildfires more frequent and intense, as rising temperatures and drier conditions create the perfect environment for fires to spread. Wildfires also cause damage to ecosystems, destroying trees, plants and animal habitats, which can take decades to recover. By understanding the causes of wildfires—such as weather patterns, vegetation types and human activity—we can work on better ways to prevent them and protect the environment.
Using Satellites to Study Wildfires
Now, I move into my favorite part of the day—coding! I study wildfires by using satellite images. Even though the satellites are extremely high up in space, they take very detailed pictures of Earth. The satellite images I use have a resolution where each pixel represents an area of about 30 meters by 30 meters. This may sound large, but considering the size of the Earth, it provides a lot of valuable information!
In my project, I analyze satellite pictures of a region in Chile called Maule, taken every 16 days from 1984 to 2016. That’s a lot of pictures! From these images, we can extract useful information about the forests, such as amount of green vegetation, distance to water, type of forest (native or invasive) and more. We also have historical wildfire data, including where and when fires occurred. Using all this information, we build models to predict wildfire risk. Essentially, we use past wildfire events to help predict the future!
