Active fire detection using the Himawari-8 satellite: Final project report

This paper assesses how the Himawari-8 satellite can be used for active fire detection. Satellite sensors are an important source of observations of fire activity (or hotspots). Next generation geostationary satellites (Himawari-8, GeoKompsat 2A, GOES-16/17) provide earth observations very frequently (~every 10-minutes). This near-real time data provides opportunities for new and improved fire detection algorithms. Early fire detection algorithms that take advantage of such high frequency observations, and that are primed for Australian landscapes, are developed under this project.

Results from the project developed algorithms compare extremely favourably with existing polar-orbiting fire detections and other Himawari-based approaches. This has led to wide interest and project outputs being adopted by end-users.