13 November 2003

Northern Territory bushfires are being tracked from space using NASA satellites and the resulting images can be seen on the internet.

Images showing current and past fires across northern Australia are just a mouse-click away through a new website developed by the Tropical Savannas Cooperative Research Centre, the Bushfires Council of the NT and Chris Devonport from Ecobyte Systems Pty Ltd.  The site also maps burnt areas, or “fire scars”.

Bushfires Council Chief Fire Control Officer Brent Williams said the North Australia Fire Information (NAFI) site is a boon for fire managers.

“Fire managers can track fires in real time,” he said.

“And not only can we can see where fires are burning now, but we can also see where they burnt last week and where they burnt months ago. 

“That makes it a lot easier to plan fire control measures like fuel reduction burning.

“It’s an extremely useful application of technology, particularly in the Territory where we have huge properties, a small population and a very fire-prone environment.”

The NASA satellites carry sensors called MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer), which can detect burning fires from space to within about a square kilometre.

The information the satellites pick up is downloaded and processed in Alice Springs by Sentinel Fire (CSIRO, the Defence Imagery and Geospatial Organisation and Geoscience Australia) and in Perth by the WA Department of Land Information. 

Fire scar areas are hand mapped using images beamed down from the MODIS sensor and are uploaded to the website every few weeks.

The North Australia Fire Information Website link is below.

Contact information below.

Andrew Edwards – Bushfires Council Ph: 08 89 448464; Mob: 0423 453 432