{"id":39688,"date":"2024-06-25T14:45:42","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T12:45:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/5c9431ef-fa10-4135-bfdd-19050cbdd440"},"modified":"2024-06-25T15:42:26","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T13:42:26","slug":"fighting-fire-from-space-how-ai-could-save-millions-of-australian-animals-from-deadly-wildfires","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/fighting-fire-from-space-how-ai-could-save-millions-of-australian-animals-from-deadly-wildfires\/","title":{"rendered":"Fighting fire from space: How AI could save millions of Australian animals from deadly wildfires"},"content":{"rendered":"

The new AI technology will make it possible to reliably detect wildfires in less than one hour, say scientists. <\/p>

By <\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 25 June 2024 at 12:45 PM<\/p>

\n\n

Early detection of wildfires is becoming increasingly important, especially in countries such as Australia<\/a> \u2013\u00a0in the summer of 2019-20, more than 12 million hectares, an area roughly the size of England, were impacted.<\/strong><\/p>

According to analysis carried out by the\u00a0 University of Sydney<\/a>\u00a0for WWF-Australia, \u201cabout 143 million mammals<\/a>, 2.46 billion reptiles<\/a>, 181 million birds<\/a>, and 51 million frogs<\/a> occupied areas hit by the fires.\u201d<\/p>

More than 60,000 koalas<\/a> \u2013\u00a0an iconic Australian species whose entire population numbers only an estimated 300,000 adults \u2013\u00a0were killed or affected.<\/p>

Now help is at hand. Scientists from the\u00a0 University of South Australia<\/a>\u00a0say they have found a way to harness satellites and Artificial Intelligence<\/a> (AI) to greatly increase the rates at which wildfires are detected.<\/p>

In the summer of 2019-20, an area roughly the size of England was impacted by wildfire in Australia. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Why wildfires are becoming more common in the UK<\/a><\/li><\/ul>
Stationary satellites located up to 34,000km above the surface of the Earth, or lower, and orbiting satellites can both detect wildfires, but they have a number of limitations. The key innovation, say scientists, is to put sophisticated AI-enabled software into tiny cube satellites (cubesats) that weigh just a few kilograms.<\/p>
So far, the idea has only been modelled, says lead researcher on the project, geospatial scientist Dr Stefan Peters, it\u2019s about to go live.<\/p>
\u201cThe Kanyini cubesat [a collaboration between the Government of South Australia, a consortium of universities and various industry partners] is scheduled to be launched on 2 July, and our onboard fire smoke detection solution will become operational at the end of this year or beginning of next,\u201d Peters says.<\/p>
When it does, it should be possible to reliably detect wildfires in less than one hour, whereas current satellites can take between 6-8 hours. Using a past fire event in the Coorong of South Australia, the AI approach took less than 14 minutes to detect smoke and relay the data.<\/p>
Millions of wild animals are impacted by Australian bushfires every year. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
Reducing the impact of wildfires isn\u2019t only important for millions of wild animals, as well as human lives and property, but also because of the huge release of carbon emissions.\u00a0<\/p>
WWF-Australia published a report following the 2019-20 wildfire season which said that somewhere between 400-700 million tonnes of carbon dioxide had been released. To put this in perspective, Australia\u2019s annual emissions during the 12 months to June 2019 were about 500 million tonnes.<\/p>
And the cost of replacing these carbon stocks was estimated at somewhere between AU$1-2.8 billion.<\/p>
In the light of these statistics, investing in early detection would surely pay dividends.<\/p>
$\"Forest$
The new technology means experts should be able to reliably detect wildfires in less than one hour. Credit: Getty<\/figcaption><\/figure>
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\u201cHow worried should I be?\u201d A quest through Australia’s rainforest in search of the world’s most dangerous bird<\/a><\/li><\/ul> <\/body><\/html>\n
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