Australia’s fire preparedness just got smarter, more colourful and easier to access.

A new satellite-derived product from Geoscience Australia helps monitor fuel moisture (vegetation dryness) across Australia in near real time. The tool uses Earth observation to provide a clear visual assessment of vegetation flammability.

Developed in partnership with The Australian National University’s Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence, the Digital Earth Australia Fuel Moisture Content assesses fire risk, by estimating the percentage of water mass relative to dry mass in living vegetation based on its spectral signature.

The product uses an algorithm developed at the ANU Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence and applies it to Sentinel-2 satellite data from Geoscience Australia’s Digital Earth Australia program.

 Vegetation moisture changes in the south-west of Western Australia between August 2024 (left) and November 2024 (right). Digital Earth Australia Fuel Moisture Content.

Australia’s hot, dry climate and expansive bushland make understanding vegetation dryness critical for managing bushfire risk.

The DEA Fuel Moisture Content product enables fire and land managers to monitor and map the dryness of vegetation across different landscapes and compare over different time periods to understand changes and trends over time.

The data is delivered as imagery with a 20 by 20 m pixel size and is freely available via DEA Maps and DEA Knowledge Hub.

Updated every few days, at 20-metre resolution, it shows where the landscape is ready to burn before fires start.

The tool was launched with the claim that this is the first time fire agencies, land managers and Indigenous fire practitioners can see precisely where the landscape is ready at this level of detail for the whole continent.

The director of the ANU Bushfire Research Centre of Excellence Professor Marta Yebra began the early work on this tool for her PhD in Spain and built it up into the Digital Earth Australia product of today.

Prof Yebra explains the science and the history of it all in this article The Conversation:

“It’s a glimpse into the future of bushfire management, where satellites and other technologies act like a nervous system for the continent, constantly sensing and responding to changes in the landscape long before smoke fills the sky.” explains Prof Marta Yebra.

The research behind the tool is funded by Natural Hazards Research Australia. The Indigenous-led field validation is funded by the SmartSat CRC and Fenner School of Environment and Society.