How Near-Daily Satellite Imagery Can Support Australia’s Disaster Resilience

This Planet Skysat image shows the aftermath of bushfires in the Blue Mountains in Blackheath, New South Wales, Australia, on 14 April 2020. Charred eucalypts lay scattered across the Blackheath Plateau and floor of the Grose Valley hundreds of feet below. © 2020, Planet Labs Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Australia has a storied history of droughts, floods and fires. Historically, the gravity of these events has been poorly understood because the country hasn’t been able to adequately track, observe and record them over time. The last bushfire season affected millions of forest hectares and destroyed thousands of homes, and the floods that followed came with damaging high winds and downpours. With experts predicting that these incidents are a harbinger of natural disasters to come, scientists and government officials are looking to outer space for answers.

Near-daily, global geospatial imagery and coverage could be a critical tool for mitigating Australia’s continent-wide damages from natural disasters going forward — providing vital insights before, during and after the bushfire seasons. It can show the location of drought and help track fuel loads, show where the fires are spreading and help with emergency management services, and then aid in assessment and recovery.

Following the Australian bushfires, for example, the Surveying and Spatial Sciences Institute (SSSI) held The National Bushfire Recovery Map-a-thon to detect damaged and destroyed infrastructure following the fires.

Over 600 people participated, utilizing a combination of satellite imagery, aerial photography and government data to help Australians in recovery. As one of the largest single event map-a-thons in the Australian region, they mapped over 2.5 million hectares and discovered over a thousand damaged features and 945 damaged buildings. This validated the idea that rapid revist and large scale geospatial data can act as a complementary piece of the puzzle when it comes to fire recovery efforts.

Bush fires swept across much of eastern Australia during the unprecedented fire season of 2019–2020. The Blue Mountains, just west of Sydney, were hit particularly hard. As you can see in these Planetscope images from 18 November 2019 (left) and 16 December 2019 (right), the fires left behind a patchwork of burn scars. The most severely burned areas are colored gray, while less damaged areas appear red or brown, and un- or lightly-burned areas remain green. © 2019, Planet Labs Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In fact, evidence that near-daily geospatial data can be critical for tracking fires has been shown worldwide. In Brazil, for instance, satellite imagery revealed the spread of the Amazon fires in near-real time, and also helped assist California emergency responders during the devastating Camp Fire of 2018.

It’s also a proven tool for aiding in flood recovery, an issue Australia has been grappling with for years.

In the Republic of the Congo, near-daily satellite imagery was utilised to help build country-wide flood monitoring and dynamic analytics systems for an organization called Cloud to Street. Powered by geospatial data, they were able to work with the local government to help relocate 7,000 refugees to safer sites, possibly saving countless lives.

Cloud to Street’s analysis of Planet imagery from 4 January 2019 showed floodwater (dark blue) throughout a refugee camp in the Congo. Image credit: Cloud to Street

Geospatial data is also well-positioned to reveal crucial insights regarding drought. The Murray Darling Basin spans over one million square kilometers and encompasses Australia’s most complex river systems, covering multiple state and territory jurisdictions. Drought conditions have meant that little water is available there, which makes it highly valuable. Monitoring the basin’s usage with near-daily satellite imagery can help ensure that a balance remains between agricultural practices and environmental health going forward.

The benefits of near-daily satellite imagery even extends to defence and intelligence. While Australia is currently working with certain commercial satellite providers for Intelligence Surveillance & Reconnaissance (ISR) missions, they are only able to request imagery of locations they already know they need to monitor. Australia would benefit from a dataset that provides always-on monitoring capability, dramatically increasing situational awareness and intelligence gathering missions as they lead commonwealth efforts. They can also utilise the near-daily data for maritime situational awareness — discovering adversary military vessels, illegal fishing in North Korea and new missile pads.

Australia has taken great strides in recent years to utilise space intelligence. In 2018, the country launched the Australian Space Agency with the plan of tripling the sector’s employee numbers and revenue over the next decade. This has been coupled with an ongoing desire to create sovereign capability, as Australia has traditionally relied on international partners. Prime Minister Scott Morrison recently revealed a $270 billion defence plan for “protecting and building Australia’s future” with a focus on amplifying the Australian Defence Force’s space capabilities. Australia also declared that it is developing a satellite to help monitor the country’s dominant vegetation and track bushfires. The data gathered by the satellite, once it is created, will help measure vegetation conditions that can ignite and fuel flames.

A Planet SkySat captured this high-resolution view of timber stands at various stages of growth in the interior of Tasmania, Australia, on 30 March 2019. © 2019, Planet Labs Inc. All Rights Reserved.

While these efforts are commendable, these goals take a long time to achieve, and they’re expensive, costing tens of hundreds of millions, and that’s if you don’t account for future setbacks caused by the COVID-19 health crisis.

Commercial small satellite companies like Planet offer a massive constellation with over 150 satellites with 5-band imagery products, which can provide insights into broad scale fuel loads, drought issues and situational awareness during floods. Their satellites feature the most up-to-date technology, which is constantly adapting to help better serve the needs of organisations and governments around the world.

While Australia is taking action to develop a stronger space presence and work toward sovereign capability — commercial satellite data and products can help Australia understand what is going on continent-wide and take action today, rather than having to wait years for the necessary tools to find solutions.