Landsat’s Role in Managing Wildland Fires
Worldwide, fire plays a critical role in maintaining healthy forests, but fire can also be damaging. Homes are destroyed and the effects on air quality can be felt for miles. Forest fires are occurring more often and with greater intensity than in years past, and Landsat plays a critical role in understanding the impact. Landsat data enables land managers and scientists to assess the severity and extent of large fires as they plan recovery efforts; to improve safety and prevent damage to life, property and natural resources; to estimate how much pollution burning releases into the air; and to monitor the post-fire recovery of burned areas. Landsat satellites have been collecting information about forest fires since the 1970s. Landsat plays an important role in assessing the impact of fires on forest ecosystems and human society. Landsat satellites document the location and extent of burned areas, how severely fires burn, and the subsequent regrowth of the land after a forest fire. All this information helps land managers better manage our forests and other natural resources in the context of fire.
![A night scene shows a bright orange patch near the coast burning the city of Lahaina. The rest of the land looks purple in this night image.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/20240530_maui-fire-th.jpg)
Landsat Observations Key Resource for Many Federal Agencies
In the FY23 Aeronautics and Space Report released on May 23, 2024, a multitude of Federal agencies report work informed by Landsat data.
![Members of Australia’s New South Wales Rural Fire Service monitor a fire in a remote region of the state that is also home to utility company transition lines. Credit: Indji Systems.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/firms_auscrew_art.jpg)
Spotted by Satellite: Situational Awareness in Fiery Times
The Australian company Indji Systems uses a variety of satellite data to provide real-time hazard monitoring and alerts to utility and renewable energy companies across Australia, North America and Europe.
![California’s 2017 Thomas Fire (shown) was included in a new analysis of more than 1,500 wildland fires teasing out how drought and fire combine to affect western U.S. lands.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/3-25-24-fire-drought-main-art-ed.webp)
Satellites Show How Drought Changes Wildfire Recovery in the West
A new study using NASA satellite data reveals how drought affects the recovery of western ecosystems from fire, a result that could provide meaningful information for conservation efforts.
![Secretary of the Interior, Deb Haaland, on the left and USGS Director David Applegate on the right.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/HaalandApplegate2024.jpg)
USGS Director Talks Landsat
In an Instagram Live event titled “Guided by Science,” Deb Haaland, U.S. Secretary of the Interior, spoke with USGS Director Dr. David Applegate. The Landsat portion of that discussion is shared here.
![Earth in space with the words: Extra Dimensional: The Fusion of Landsat & GEDI superimposed on top.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Landsat-GEDI_Th.png)
ExtraDimensional—The Fusion of Landsat & GEDI
When Landsat’s vast decades-long archive is combined with data from other instruments it can provide amazing insight into how our world is evolving with us and around us. Here are some of the ways Landsat and GEDI data are being harnessed to help us better understand the complex relationship between humanity and nature.
![For Orbit to A.I. a thumbnail image showing an artist's rendering of the Landsat 9 satellite downlinking data to Earth.](https://landsat.gsfc.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/LandsatAI_Thumb.png)
From Orbit to A.I.—Harnessing Machine Learning with Landsat Data
Over the past few years, machine learning techniques have been increasingly used to analyze the vast amount of data collected by the Landsat mission, which has been circling the globe for over 50 years.