Copernicus Sentinel-2 reveals more fires than thought

Thanks to Copernicus Sentinel-2’s ability to zoom in on our planet, researchers have discovered that there are more areas being affected by fire than previously thought. A paper published in Remote Sensing of the Environment describes how researchers used the high-resolution imaging capability of the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission to produce the first detailed continental map of burns caused by wildfires. The authors focused on sub-Saharan Africa and found that 4.9 million sq km of land had been burned in 2016 (left image), which is 80% more than reported with information from coarser-resolution satellite sensors (right image). These new-found areas comprised mainly burned areas smaller than 100 ha.