MAAP #132: Amazon Deforestation Hotspots 2020

We present a first look at the major hotspots of primary forest loss across the Amazon in 2020 (see Base Map).*

Base Map. Forest loss hotspots across the Amazon in 2020. Data: UMD/GLAD, RAISG, MAAP. The letters A-G correspond to the zoom examples below.
Base Map. Forest loss hotspots across the Amazon in 2020. Data: UMD/GLAD, RAISG, MAAP. The letters A-G correspond to the zoom examples below.

There are several major headlines:

  • We estimate over 2 million hectares (5 million acres) of primary forest loss across the nine countries of the Amazon in 2020.*
  • The countries with the highest 2020 primary forest loss are 1) Brazil, 2) Bolivia, 3) Peru, 4) Colombia, 5) Venezuela, and 6) Ecuador.
  • The majority of the hotspots occurred in the Brazilian Amazon, where massive deforestation stretched across nearly the entire southern region. Many of these areas were cleared in the first half of the year and then burned in July and August. In September, there was a shift to actual forest fires (see MAAP #129).
  • Several of the most intense hotspots were in the Bolivian Amazon, where fires raged through the dry forests (known as the Chiquitano) in the southeast region.
  • There continues to be an arc of deforestation in the northwestern Colombian Amazon, impacting numerous protected areas.
  • In the Peruvian Amazon, deforestation continues to impact the central region. On the positive, the illegal gold mining that plagued the southern region has decreased thanks to effective government action (see MAAP #130).

Below, we show a striking series of high-resolution satellite images that illustrate some of the major deforestation events across the Amazon in 2020 (indicated A-G on the Base Map).

 

 

Widespread Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon

Zooms A-C show examples of a troublingly common phenomenon in the Brazilian Amazon: large-scale deforestation events in the first half of the year that are later burned in July and August, causing major fires due to the abundant recently-cut biomass. Much of the deforestation in these areas appears to associated with clearing rainforests for cattle pastures. The three examples below show the striking loss of over 21,000 hectares of primary forest in 2020.

Zoom A. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (Amazonas state) of 3,400 hectares between April (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA, Planet.
Zoom A. Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon (Amazonas state) of 3,400 hectares between April (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA, Planet.

 

Zoom B. Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon (Amazonas state) of 2,540 hectares between January (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.
Zoom B. Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon (Amazonas state) of 2,540 hectares between January (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.

 

Zoom C. Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon (Para state) of 15,250 hectares between January (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.
Zoom C. Deforestation in Brazilian Amazon (Para state) of 15,250 hectares between January (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.

 

 

Forest Fires in the Brazilian Amazon

In September, there was a shift to actual forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon (see MAAP #129). Zoom D and E show examples of these major forest fires, which burned over 50,000 hectares in the states of Pará and Mato Grosso. Note both fires impacted indigenous territories (Kayapo and Xingu, respectively).

Zoom D. Forest fire in Brazilian Amazon (Para state) that burned 9,000 hectares between March (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.
Zoom D. Forest fire in Brazilian Amazon (Para state) that burned 9,000 hectares between March (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.
Zoom E. Forest fire in Brazilian Amazon (Mato Grosso state) that burned over 44,000 hectares between May (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.
Zoom E. Forest fire in Brazilian Amazon (Mato Grosso state) that burned over 44,000 hectares between May (left panel) and October (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.

Forest Fires in the Bolivian Amazon

The Bolivian Amazon also experienced another intense fire season in 2020. Zoom F shows the burning of a massive area (over 260,000 hectares) in the Chiquitano dry forests (Santa Cruz department).

Zoom F. Forest fire in Bolivian Amazon (Santa Cruz) that burned over 260,000 hectares between April (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA.
Zoom F. Forest fire in Bolivian Amazon (Santa Cruz) that burned over 260,000 hectares between April (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA.

Arc of Deforestation in the Colombian Amazon

As described in previous reports (see MAAP #120), there is an “arc of deforestation” concentrated in the northwest Colombian Amazon. This arc impacts numerous protected areas (including national parks) and Indigenous Reserves. For example, Zoom G shows the recent deforestation of over 500 hectares in Chiribiquete National Park. Similar deforestation in that sector of the park appears to be conversion to cattle pasture.

Zoom G. Deforestation in Colombian Amazon of over 500 hectares in Chiribiqete National Park between January (left panel) and December (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA, Planet.
Zoom G. Deforestation in Colombian Amazon of over 500 hectares in Chiribiqete National Park between January (left panel) and December (right panel) 2020. Data: ESA, Planet.

Deforestation in the central Peruvian Amazon

Finally, Zoom H shows expanding deforestation (over 110 hectares), and logging road construction (3.6 km), in an indigenous territory south of Sierra del Divisor National Park in the central Peruvian Amazon (Ucayali region). The deforestation appears to be associated with an expanding small-scale agriculture or cattle pasture frontier.

Zoom H. Deforestation and logging road construction in Peruvian Amazon (Ucayali region) between March (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.
Zoom H. Deforestation and logging road construction in Peruvian Amazon (Ucayali region) between March (left panel) and November (right panel) 2020. Data: Planet.

*Notes and Methodology

The analysis was based on early warning forest loss alerts known as GLAD alerts (30-meter resolution) produced by the University of Maryland and also presented by Global Forest Watch. It is critical to highlight that this data represents a preliminary estimate and more definitive data will come later in the year. For example, our estimate does include some forest loss caused by natural forces. Note that this data detects and classifies burned areas as forest loss. Our estimate includes both confirmed (1,355,671 million hectares) and unconfirmed (751,533 ha) alerts.

Our geographic range is the biogeographic boundary of the Amazon as defined by RAISG (see Base Map above). This range includes nine countries.

We applied a filter to calculate only primary forest loss. For our estimate of primary forest loss, we intersected the forest cover loss data with the additional dataset “primary humid tropical forests” as of 2001 (Turubanova et al 2018). For more details on this part of the methodology, see the Technical Blog from Global Forest Watch (Goldman and Weisse 2019).

To identify the deforestation hotspots, we conducted a kernel density estimate. This type of analysis calculates the magnitude per unit area of a particular phenomenon, in this case forest cover loss. We conducted this analysis using the Kernel Density tool from Spatial Analyst Tool Box of ArcGIS. We used the following parameters:

Search Radius: 15000 layer units (meters)
Kernel Density Function: Quartic kernel function
Cell Size in the map: 200 x 200 meters (4 hectares)
Everything else was left to the default setting.

For the Base Map, we used the following concentration percentages: Medium: 7-10%; High: 11-20%; Very High: >20%.

Acknowledgements

We thank E. Ortiz (AAF), M.E. Gutierrez (ACCA), and S. Novoa for their helpful comments on this report.

Citation

Finer M, Mamani N (2020) Amazon Deforestation Hotspots 2020. MAAP: 132.

 

MAAP: Fires In The Bolivian Amazon 2020

Base Map. Major fires in the Bolivian Amazon during 2020. Data: MAAP/ACEAA.
Base Map. Major fires in the Bolivian Amazon during 2020. Data: MAAP/ACEAA.

We have detected 120 major fires this year in the Bolivian Amazon, as of the first of October (see Base Map).*

The majority of these fires (54%) occurred in savannas, located in the department of Beni.

Another 38% of the major fires were located in forests, mostly in the dry forests of the Chiquitano.

We emphasize that 25% of the major fires were located in Protected Areas (see below).

 

*The data, updated through October 1, is based on our novel real-time Amazon Fires Monitoring app, which is based on the detection of elevated aerosol emissions (by the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5 satellite) that indicate the burning of large amounts of biomass (defined here as a “major fire”).

 

 

Major Fires in Protected Areas of the Bolivian Amazon in 2020. Data: MAAP/ACEAA.
Major Fires in Protected Areas of the Bolivian Amazon in 2020. Data: MAAP/ACEAA.

Major Fires in Protected Areas

The most impacted Protected Areas are Noel Kempff Mercado National Park (21,000 acres burned), and Copaibo Municipal Protected Area (99,000 acres burned hectares).

Other impacted Protected Areas impacted include Iténez National Park, Keneth Lee Reserve and Pampas del Río Yacuma Integrated Management Natural Area.

 

Satellite Images of the Major Fires in the Bolivian Amazon

We present a series of high-resolution satellite images of the major fires in the Bolivian Amazon.

Image 1 shows a major fire in the extreme northwest of Noel Kempff Mercado National Park in September. Note that the fires are burning in the transition between Amazon forest and savanna.

Image 1. Major Fire #61 (Sept 8, 2020). Data: Planet.
Image 1. Major Fire #61 (Sept 8, 2020). Data: Planet.

Image 2 shows a major fire in Copaibo Municipal Protected Area in September. Note that it is located in the transition zone of the moist Amazon forest and Chiquitano dry forest.

Image 2. Major Fire #65 (September 7, 2020). Data: Planet.
Image 2. Major Fire #65 (September 7, 2020). Data: Planet.

Image 3 shows another major fire in Copaibo Municipal Protected Area, also in the transition zone of the Amazon forest and the Chiquitano dry forest.

Image 3. Major Fire #51 (September 4, 2020). Data: Planet.
Image 3. Major Fire #51 (September 4, 2020). Data: Planet.

Image 4 shows a major fire in the savannas of Beni.

Image 4. Major Fire #68 (September 12, 2020). Data: Planet.
Image 4. Major Fire #68 (September 12, 2020). Data: Planet.

 

Citation

Finer M, Ariñez A (2020) Fires in the Bolivian Amazon 2020. MAAP.

Amazon Fire Season Intensifies; Shifts to Raging Forest Fires

Forest Fire in the Brazilian Amazon (Mato Grosso). Data: Planet.We have documented 1,650 major fires in the Brazilian Amazon this year, and well over half (60%) have occurred in September.*

We have been detecting around 62 major fires a day during September, relative to 18 in August (and 2 in July).

Moreover, we flag the major spike in Amazon forest fires, defined here as human-caused fires in standing forest.

We found over 700 forest fires, which now account for 43% of all major fires, up from 13% in August (and just 1% in July).

We roughly estimate that 4.6 million acres (1.8 million hectares) have been impacted by these forest fires in the Brazilian Amazon.

The satellite image to the right is just one example of a recent major forest fire in the Brazilian Amazon. Below, for greater context, we show a before and after panel of that same fire.

Many of the major fires (49%) continue to burn recently deforested areas, defined here as areas where the forest was previously and recently cleared (between 2018 and 2020) prior to burning. This percentage, however, was much higher earlier in the fire season (For example, 84% in July).

Check out Mongabay’s real-time Brazilian Amazon fire tracker based on our analysis.

*The data, updated through September 20, is based on our novel real-time Amazon Fires Monitoring app, which is based on the detection of elevated aerosol emissions that indicate the burning of large amounts of biomass (defined here as a “major fire.”

Satellite Images of Amazon Forest Fires

The following high-resolution satellite images (courtesy of Planet) show the before (left panel) and after (right panel) of a recent major fire in the Brazilian Amazon (Mato Grosso state). Further below is another panel zooming out to show the surrounding matrix of forest fires, recently deforested area fires, and cropland fires.

Acknowledgements

The app was developed and updated daily by Conservación Amazónica (ACCA). The data analysis is led by Amazon Conservation in collaboration with SERVIR Amazonia.

 

Citation

Finer M, Vale H, Walker K, Villa L, Nicolau A, Ariñez A  (2020) Amazon Fire Season Continues to Intensify in September. MAAP.

Brazilian Amazon Fires Intensify in September

Although August was severe, early September saw the Brazilian Amazon fires intensify even more.

September shot up to an average of 53 major fires per day across the Brazilian Amazon, up from 18 in August (and 2 in July).*

In addition, the surrounding Pantanal, the world’s largest tropical wetlands, is experiencing unprecedented fires.

The Base Map shows major fires scattered across the Brazilian Amazon in relation to the huge fire complex to the south in the Pantanal, as seen in our novel real-time fire monitoring app from early September.

Base Map. Amazon fires in relation to Pantanal fires as seen in our Real-time Amazon Fire Monitoring app (September 6). Red indicates most severa fires. Data: MAAP/ACCA.
Base Map. Amazon fires in relation to Pantanal fires as seen in our Real-time Amazon Fire Monitoring app (September 6). Red indicates most severa fires. Data: MAAP/ACCA.

Red indicates the most intense fires burning the highest levels of biomass.

Overall, we have now detected 963 major fires this year in the Brazilian Amazon with the app.

*Data updated through September 7, 2020.

 

Increase in Amazon Forest Fires

Also noteworthy is the major spike in Amazon forest fires, defined here as human-caused fires in standing forest. Forest fires now account for a striking 27% of all major fires, up from 13% in August (and 1% in July).

An estimated 896,000 acres (362,000 hectares) have been impacted  by these Amazon forest fires.

The majority of the major fires (66%) continue to burn recently deforested areas, defined here as areas where the forest was previously and recently cleared (between 2018-20) prior to burning.

In fact, over 1.3 million acres (540,000 hectares) of recently deforested areas has burned in 2020.

A major forest fire in the Brazilian Amazon (Mato Grosso) on September 6, 2020. Data: Planet. Analysis: MAAP/ACCA, SERVIR.
A major forest fire in the Brazilian Amazon (Mato Grosso) on September 6, 2020. Data: Planet. Analysis: MAAP/ACCA, SERVIR.

Thus, most of the fires are actually a smoking indicator of the current rampant deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

 

Protected Areas and Indigenous Territories

We also must highlight that we have detected 80 major fires in protected areas and indigenous territories of the Brazilian Amazon. The most impacted areas are the Xingu and Kayapó indigenous territories, and Jamanxim National Forest.

Major Fires (orange dots) within and around indigenous territories (bright green) and protected areas (light green) in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. Data: MAAP.
Major Fires (orange dots) within and around indigenous territories (bright green) and protected areas (light green) in the eastern Brazilian Amazon. Data: MAAP.

 

*Notes and Methodology

Our novel Real-time Amazon Fire Monitoring app

Data updated as of September 7, starting from the first major fire detected on May 28.

We detected 569 major fires during August in the Brazilian Amazon.

Prior to August, we detected only one forest fire, and that was on July 31.

The app specializes in filtering out thousands of the traditional heat-based fire alerts to prioritize only those burning large amounts of biomass (defined here as a major fire).

In a novel approach, the app combines data from the atmosphere (aerosol emissions in smoke) and the ground (heat anomaly alerts) to effectively detect and visualize major Amazon fires.

When fires burn, they emit gases and aerosols. A new satellite (Sentinel-5P from the European Space Agency) detects these aerosol emissions. Thus, the major feature of the app is detecting elevated aerosol emissions which in turn indicate the burning of large amounts of biomass. For example, the app distinguishes small fires clearing old fields (and burning little biomass) from larger fires burning recently deforested areas or standing forest (and burning lots of biomass).

We define “major fire” as one showing elevated aerosol emission levels on the app, thus indicating the burning of elevated levels of biomass. This typically translates to an aerosol index of >1 (or cyan-green to red on the app). To identify the exact source of the elevated emissions, we reduce the intensity of aerosol data in order to see the underlying terrestrial heat-based fire alerts. Typically for major fires, there is a large cluster of alerts. The major fires are then confirmed, and burn areas estimated, using high-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Explorer.

See MAAP #118 for additional details on how to use the app.

No fires permitted in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso after July 1, 2020. No fires permitted in all of Brazilian Amazon after July 15, 2020. Thus, we defined “illegal” as any major fires detected after these respective dates.

A major fire may be classified as burning across multiple land categories (for example, both recently deforested area and surrounding forest fire) so those percentages do not total 100%.

There was no available Sentinel-5 aerosol data on July 4, 15, and 26.

 

Acknowledgements

The app was developed and updated daily by Conservación Amazónica (ACCA). The data analysis is led by Amazon Conservation in collaboration with SERVIR Amazonia.

 

Citation

Finer M, Vale H, Villa L, A. Ariñez, Nicolau A, Walker K (2020) Brazilian Amazon Fires Intensify in September. MAAP.

Amazon Fire Tracker 2020: End Of August Update (Over 600 Major Fires)

August 2020 just ended its run as a severe Amazon fire month.

Brazilian Amazon Major Fire #584, August 2020. Data: Planet. Analysis: MAAP.Our novel Real-time Amazon Fire Monitoring app has detected 646 major fires in the Brazilian Amazon thus far in 2020.*

Of these, 88% (569 major fires) occurred in August,* and all were illegal, occuring after the burning moratoriums established in July.

Also in August, we saw the sudden appearance of “Forest Fires,” defined here as human-caused fires in standing forest. We detected 82 forest fires in August, which now account for 13% of all the major fires.*

The vast majority of the major fires (79%) continue to burn recently deforested areas, defined here as areas where the forest was previously and recently cleared (between 2018-20) prior to burning.

In fact, over 1.1 million acres (453,000 hectares) of recently deforested areas has burned in 2020. Thus, the fires are actually a smoking indicator of the current rampant deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Base Map

The Base Map is a screen shot of the app’s “Major Amazon Fires 2020” layer (as of September 1). The majority of the major fires in the Brazilian Amazon have been in the states of Pará (37%) and Amazonas (33%), followed by Mato Grosso (16%), Rondônia (13%), and Acre (1%).

The app has detected an additional 58 major fires in the Bolivian Amazon thus far in 2020. The majority of these (71%) have occured in savanna ecosystems in the department of Beni.

Screen shot of the app’s “Major Amazon Fires 2020” layer (as of September 1).
Screen shot of the app’s “Major Amazon Fires 2020” layer (as of September 1).

*Notes and Methodology

Data updated as of September 1, starting from the first major fire detected on May 28.

We detected 569 major fires during August in the Brazilian Amazon.

Prior to August, we detected only one forest fire, and that was on July 31.

The app specializes in filtering out thousands of the traditional heat-based fire alerts to prioritize only those burning large amounts of biomass (defined here as a major fire).

In a novel approach, the app combines data from the atmosphere (aerosol emissions in smoke) and the ground (heat anomaly alerts) to effectively detect and visualize major Amazon fires.

When fires burn, they emit gases and aerosols. A new satellite (Sentinel-5P from the European Space Agency) detects these aerosol emissions. Thus, the major feature of the app is detecting elevated aerosol emissions which in turn indicate the burning of large amounts of biomass. For example, the app distinguishes small fires clearing old fields (and burning little biomass) from larger fires burning recently deforested areas or standing forest (and burning lots of biomass).

We define “major fire” as one showing elevated aerosol emission levels on the app, thus indicating the burning of elevated levels of biomass. This typically translates to an aerosol index of >1 (or cyan-green to red on the app). To identify the exact source of the elevated emissions, we reduce the intensity of aerosol data in order to see the underlying terrestrial heat-based fire alerts. Typically for major fires, there is a large cluster of alerts. The major fires are then confirmed, and burn areas estimated, using high-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Explorer.

See MAAP #118 for additional details on how to use the app.

No fires permitted in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso after July 1, 2020. No fires permitted in all of Brazilian Amazon after July 15, 2020. Thus, we defined “illegal” as any major fires detected after these respective dates.

A major fire may be classified as burning across multiple land categories (for example, both recently deforested area and surrounding forest fire) so those percentages do not total 100%.

There was no available Sentinel-5 aerosol data on July 4, 15, and 26.

 

Acknowledgements

The app was developed and updated daily by Conservación Amazónica (ACCA). The data analysis is led by Amazon Conservation in collaboration with SERVIR Amazonia.

 

Citation

Finer M, Vale H, Villa L, A. Ariñez, Nicolau A, Walker K (2020) Amazon Fire Tracker 2020: End of August Update (Over 600 Major Fires). MAAP.

Amazon Fire Tracker 2020: Over 500 Illegal Major Fires In Brazilian Amazon

The Brazilian Amazon just passed a grim milestone: Over 500 illegal major fires thus far in 2020.

The other major headline is that, although most fires continue to burn recently deforested areas, we are now seeing an increase in forest fires.

Our Real-time Amazon Fire Monitoring app has detected 504 major fires in the Brazilian Amazon as of August 24 (starting from the first major fire detected on May 28).

Brazilian Amazon Fire #449, burning both recently deforested area (center) and forest fire (upper center). Data: Planetscope (Planet), MAAP. Click to enlarge.
Brazilian Amazon Fire #449, burning both recently deforested area (center) and forest fire (upper center). Data: Planetscope (Planet), MAAP. Click to enlarge.

Some striking stats about this year’s major fires:

  • 97% have occured after the burning moratoriums established in July and are illegal.
  • 85% have occurred in August. Thus, the fire season has been accelerating.
  • 83% have burned recently deforested areas. Thus, the fires are actually a smoking indicator of the rampant deforestation.
  • 12% have been Forest Fires. This number marks a major increase from previous estimate as the fire season intensifies.
  • 4% have occurred in Protected Areas or Indigenous Territories.
  • 856,000 acres (353,000 hectares) have burned in the recently deforested areas fires.
  • 165,000 acres (66,000) have burned in the forest fires.

 

Base Map

The Base Map is a screen shot of the app’s “Major Amazon Fires 2020” layer. The majority of the major fires in the Brazilian Amazon have been in the states of Pará (42%) and Amazonas(31%), followed by Mato Grosso (13%) and Rondônia (13%). Note we are also now seeing an increase in major fires in the Bolivian Amazon, particularly savannah fires, and that will be the subject of a future report.

Base Map. Major Amazon Fires 2020. Data: MAAP.
Base Map. Major Amazon Fires 2020. Data: MAAP.

 

*Notes and Methodology

The app specializes in filtering out thousands of the traditional heat-based fire alerts to prioritize only those burning large amounts of biomass (defined here as a major fire).

In a novel approach, the app combines data from the atmosphere (aerosol emissions in smoke) and the ground (heat anomaly alerts) to effectively detect and visualize major Amazon fires.

When fires burn, they emit gases and aerosols. A new satellite (Sentinel-5P from the European Space Agency) detects these aerosol emissions. Thus, the major feature of the app is detecting elevated aerosol emissions which in turn indicate the burning of large amounts of biomass. For example, the app distinguishes small fires clearing old fields (and burning little biomass) from larger fires burning recently deforested areas or standing forest (and burning lots of biomass).

We define “major fire” as one showing elevated aerosol emission levels on the app, thus indicating the burning of elevated levels of biomass. This typically translates to an aerosol index of >1 (or cyan-green to red on the app). To identify the exact source of the elevated emissions, we reduce the intensity of aerosol data in order to see the underlying terrestrial heat-based fire alerts. Typically for major fires, there is a large cluster of alerts. The major fires are then confirmed, and burn areas estimated, using high-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Explorer.

See MAAP #118 for additional details on how to use the app.

No fires permitted in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso after July 1, 2020. No fires permitted in all of Brazilian Amazon after July 15, 2020. Thus, we defined “illegal” as any major fires detected after these respective dates.

A major fire may be classified as burning across multiple land categories (for example, both recently deforested area and surrounding forest fire) so those percentages do not total 100%.

There was no available Sentinel-5 aerosol data on July 4, 15, and 26.

Acknowledgements

This analysis was done by Amazon Conservation in collaboration with SERVIR Amazonia.

Citation

Finer M, Vale H, Villa L, Nicolau A (2020) Over 500 Illegal Major Fires in Brazilian Amazon. MAAP.

Amazon Fire Tracker 2020: Images Of The Brazilian Amazon Fires

Images of the 2020 Brazilian Amazon FireOur innovative new app for Real-time Amazon Fire Monitoring has now detected over 350 major fires in the Brazilian Amazon this season.*

Specifically, we have detected 365 major fires as of August 17, since the first major fire detected on May 28.

The fire season is accelerating, as 79% of the major fires have occured in August.

Below, we present a series of satellite images showing key examples from August 2020.

We highlight our key finding that the vast majority of major fires (88%burned recently deforested areas covering 557,000 acres (226,000 hectares). Thus, the fires are actually a striking indicator of the rampant deforestation currently threatening the the Brazilian Amazon.

We have detected 4 Forest fires (1% of the major fires) covering 2,790 acres (1,130 hectares) and 3 savanna fires covering 38,000 acres (15,000 hectares). The rest of the major fires are burning older agricultural areas.

Other key findings include:

  • The vast majority of the fires (96%) are illegal, occuring past the 120 day moratorium established in July.
  • At least 18 of the major fires have been in protected areas or indigenous territories.
  • Most of the fires (70%) have occurred in two departments: Amazonas and Para. Mato Grosso and Rondonia each account for 15%.

We have detected an additional 10 major fires in the Bolivian Amazon, and that will be the feature of a future report.

 

Images of the 2020 Brazilian Amazon Fires

1) Fires burning recently deforested areas

Brazilian Amazon Fire #338 (August 16, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #338 (August 16, 2020)

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #335 (August 16, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #335 (August 16, 2020)

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #233 (August 11, 2020)Brazilian Amazon Fire #233 (August 11, 2020)

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #230 (August 11, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #230 (August 11, 2020)

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #221 (August 11, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #221 (August 11, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #202 (August 10, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #202 (August 10, 2020)

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #188 (August 9, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #188 (August 9, 2020)

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #124 (August 6, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #124 (August 6, 2020)

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #110 (August 4, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #110 (August 4, 2020)

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #109 (August 4, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #109 (August 4, 2020)

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #76 (August 1, 2020)

Brazilian Amazon Fire #76 (August 1, 2020)

 

2) Forest Fires 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #218, August 2020

Brazilian Amazon Fire #218, August 2020

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #195, August 2020

Brazilian Amazon Fire #195, August 2020

 

3) Grassland (Savanna) Fires 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #219, August 2020

Brazilian Amazon Fire #219, August 2020

 

*Notes and Methodology

The app specializes in filtering out thousands of the traditional heat-based fire alerts to prioritize only those burning large amounts of biomass (defined here as a major fire).

In a novel approach, the app combines data from the atmosphere (aerosol emissions in smoke) and the ground (heat anomaly alerts) to effectively detect and visualize major Amazon fires.

When fires burn, they emit gases and aerosols. A new satellite (Sentinel-5P from the European Space Agency) detects these aerosol emissions. Thus, the major feature of the app is detecting elevated aerosol emissions which in turn indicate the burning of large amounts of biomass. For example, the app distinguishes small fires clearing old fields (and burning little biomass) from larger fires burning recently deforested areas or standing forest (and burning lots of biomass).

We define “major fire” as one showing elevated aerosol emission levels on the app, thus indicating the burning of elevated levels of biomass. This typically translates to an aerosol index of >1 (or cyan-green to red on the app). To identify the exact source of the elevated emissions, we reduce the intensity of aerosol data in order to see the underlying terrestrial heat-based fire alerts. Typically for major fires, there is a large cluster of alerts. The major fires are then confirmed, and burn areas estimated, using high-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Explorer.

See MAAP #118 for additional details.

No fires permitted in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso after July 1, 2020. No fires permitted in all of Brazilian Amazon after July 15, 2020. Thus, we defined “illegal” as any major fires detected after these respective dates.

There was no available Sentinel-5 aerosol data on July 4, 15, and 26.

 

Acknowledgements

This analysis was done by Amazon Conservation in collaboration with SERVIR Amazonia.

Citation

Finer M, Nicolau A, Vale H, Villa L, Mamani N (2020) Amazon Fire Tracker 2020: Images of the Brazilian Amazon Fires. MAAP.

Amazon Fire Tracker 2020: Over 200 Major Fires As Of Aug 10

Photo of Brazil Fire 76 on July 31 2020Our innovative new app for Real-time Amazon Fire Monitoring has detected over 200 major fires in 2020.

The app specializes in filtering out thousands of the traditional heat-based fire alerts to prioritize only those burning large amounts of biomass (defined here as a major fire).*

Our key findings include:

  • We have detected 227 major Amazon fires (Brazil 220, Bolivia 6; Peru 1), as of August 10.
    ,
  • The vast majority of major fires have been in the Brazilian Amazon, where a strikingly high number (85%) have burned recently deforested areas. Thus, the fires are actually a smoking indicator of the rampant deforestation now in Brazil.
    k
  • In Brazil, we have detected two forest fires, but this risk increases as we get deeper into the dry season. The rest of the fires have been on older fields.
    l
  • In Brazil, the vast majority (94%) of the major fires have been illegal, in violation of the state and national fire moratoriums established in July. In fact, despite the moratoriums, the number of major fires is accelerating: 143 so far in August following 77 in May through July.
    m
  • In Brazil, 14 of the fires have been in Protected Areas.
    k
  • In the Bolivian and Peruvian Amazon, we have recently started detecting fires in the drier ecosystems (savannahs and grasslands).

See below for a more detailed breakdown of the results.

 

Additional Results

The Base Map is a screen shot of the app’s “Major Amazon Fires 2020” layer.

The vast majority of the fires have been in the Brazilian AmazonPará (37%) and Amazonas (39%), followed by Mato Grosso (17%) and Rondônia (8%).

Importantly, the vast majority of the major fires in the Brazilian Amazon (85%) have burned recently deforested areas (cleared between 2018 and 2020) covering 280,000 acres (113,000 hectares). Thus, we argue that the central issue is actually deforestation and the fires are actually a smoking indicator of this forest loss.

We have detected the first two forest fires, burning 388 acres (1,447 hectares) in Mato Grosso and Para.

The rest of the major fires have been on older cattle or agricultural lands (deforested prior to 2018).

The most impacted protected areas are Jamanxim and Altamira National Forests in Pará. We emphasize, however, that these fires were burning recently deforested areas (not forest fires) and so, again, the primary issue is deforestation.

In Brazil, the vast majority of the major fires (94%) appear to be illegal as they violate the state and national government mandated fire moratoriums established in July. In fact, despite the moratoriums, the number of major fires is accelerating: 143 so far in August, following 64 in July, 12 in June, and the first one in May.

In the Bolivian Amazon, we have recently started detecting fires in the savannahs in the department of Beni. We also detected one fire in a recently deforested area in the Santa Cruz department.

In the Peruvian Amazon, we have recently started detecting fires in the upper elevation grasslands. The biggest one was actually within a protected area (Otishi National Park). There have also been smaller grassland fires near the buffer zone of upper Manu National Park.

 

Key Examples of 2020 Fires

Overall our key finding is that most major Brazilian Amazon fires are burning recently deforested areas, and not raging forest fires. Below is a series of satellite image time-lapse videos showing examples of recent deforestation followed by a major 2020 fire.

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #54, July 2020

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #59, July 2020

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #76, July 2020

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #110, August 2020

 

*Notes and Methodology

In a novel approach, the app combines data from the atmosphere (aerosol emissions in smoke) and the ground (heat anomaly alerts) to effectively detect and visualize major Amazon fires.

When fires burn, they emit gases and aerosols. A new satellite (Sentinel-5P from the European Space Agency) detects these aerosol emissions. Thus, the major feature of the app is detecting elevated aerosol emissions which in turn indicate the burning of large amounts of biomass. For example, the app distinguishes small fires clearing old fields (and burning little biomass) from larger fires burning recently deforested areas or standing forest (and burning lots of biomass).

We define “major fire” as one showing elevated aerosol emission levels on the app, thus indicating the burning of elevated levels of biomass. This typically translates to an aerosol index of >1 (or cyan-green to red on the app). To identify the exact source of the elevated emissions, we reduce the intensity of aerosol data in order to see the underlying terrestrial heat-based fire alerts. Typically for major fires, there is a large cluster of alerts. The major fires are then confirmed, and burn areas estimated, using high-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Explorer.

See MAAP #118 for additional details.

No fires permitted in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso after July 1, 2020. No fires permitted in all of Brazilian Amazon after July 15, 2020. Thus, we defined “illegal” as any major fires detected after these respective dates.

There was no available Sentinel-5 aerosol data on July 4, 15, and 26.

 

Acknowledgements

This analysis was done by Amazon Conservation in collaboration with SERVIR Amazonia.

Citation

Finer M, Nicolau A, Villa L (2020) 200 Major Amazon Fires in 2020: Tracker Analysis. MAAP.

Amazon Fire Tracker 2020 – July Update

Recall we recently launched an innovative new app for Real-time Amazon Fire Monitoring (see MAAP #118 for details).

In a novel approach, the app combines data from the atmosphere (aerosol emissions in smoke) and the ground (heat anomaly alerts) to effectively detect and visualize major Amazon fires.

The app specializes in filtering out thousands of the heat-based fire alerts to prioritize only those burning large amounts of biomass and thus emitting elevated levels of aerosol (defined here as a major fire).*

Example of a major fire in the Brazilian Amazon burning recently deforested area. Brazil major fire #54, July 30, Mato Grosso. Image: Planetscope (Planet).
Example of a major fire in the Brazilian Amazon burning recently deforested area. Brazil major fire #54, July 30, Mato Grosso. Image: Planetscope (Planet).

As of the end of July, we have detected 77 major Amazon fires thus far in 2020, all in Brazil.

In summary, 84% of the major fires are burned recently deforested areas and 83% were illegal (in violation of fire moratoriums). We detected the first forest fire on the last day of the month.

We have started detecting large and uncontrolled fires in the drier ecosystems of Bolivia, but outside the Amazon watershed.

See below for a more detailed overview of the 2020 Amazon fire season thru the end of July.

 

Key Results

The Base Map is a screen shot of the app’s “Major Amazon Fires 2020” layer.

Base Map. Screen shot of the app’s “Major Amazon Fires 2020” layer.
Base Map. Screen shot of the app’s “Major Amazon Fires 2020” layer.

As noted above, we have detected 77 major Amazon fires thus far in 2020, all in Brazil.

The first major fire was detected on May 28 in the state of Mato Grosso in southeastern Brazilian Amazon (see MAAP #118). This event was followed by 12 major fires in June, all in Mato Grosso (see Fire Tracker #12).

The number of major fires in Mato Grosso decreased in July, suggesting the state’s new fire moratorium (starting July 1) may be working.

Starting in mid-July, the major fire activity shifted to the surrounding Brazilian states of Amazonas, Rondônia and Pará. This shift coincided with national fire moratorium (starting July 15), indicating it has not been as effective.

Overall, most of the major fires (83%) appear to be illegal as they violate the state and national government mandated fire moratoriums established in July.

Importantly, most of the major fires (84%) have burned recently deforested areas (deforested 2018-20) covering 108,000 acres (44,000 hectares). See MAAP #113 for more on this important point in regards to the 2019 fires.

We detected the first forest fire on the last day of the month. It burned 388 acres (157 hectares).

The other major fires have been in older cattle or agricultural areas (deforested pre 2018).

We have started detecting large and uncontrolled fires in the drier ecosystems of Bolivia, but outside the Amazon watershed.

 

Key Examples of 2020 Fires

Overall our key finding is that most major Brazilian Amazon fires are burning recently deforested areas, and not raging forest fires. Below is a series of four satellite images time-lapse videos showing examples of recent deforestation (2019) followed by a major 2020 fire burning lots of biomass that was detected by the app.

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #1, May 2020

Brazilian Amazon Fire #4, June 2020

 

Brazilian Amazon Fire #12, June 2020

Brazilian Amazon Fire #18, July 2020

Brazilian Amazon Fire #54, July 2020

*Notes and Methodology

When fires burn, they emit gases and aerosols. A new satellite (Sentinel-5P from the European Space Agency) detects these aerosol emissions. Thus, the major feature of the app is detecting elevated aerosol emissions which in turn indicate the burning of large amounts of biomass. For example, the app distinguishes small fires clearing old fields (and burning little biomass) from larger fires burning recently deforested areas or standing forest (and burning lots of biomass).

We define “major fire” as one showing elevated aerosol emission levels on the app, thus indicating the burning of elevated levels of biomass. This typically translates to an aerosol index of >1 (or cyan-green to red on the app). To identify the exact source of the elevated emissions, we reduce the intensity of aerosol data in order to see the underlying terrestrial heat-based fire alerts. Typically for major fires, there is a large cluster of alerts. The major fires are then confirmed, and burn areas estimated, using high-resolution satellite imagery from Planet Explorer.

No fires permitted in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso after July 1, 2020. No fires permitted in all of Brazilian Amazon after July 15, 2020. Thus, we defined “illegal” as any major fires detected after these respective dates.

There was no available Sentinel-5 aerosol data on July 4, 15, and 26.

Acknowledgements

This analysis was done by Amazon Conservation in collaboration with SERVIR Amazonia.

Citation

Finer M, Nicolau A, Villa L (2020) Amazon Fire Tracker 2020 – July Update. MAAP.

Amazon Fire Tracker 2020: Brazil Fire #12 (June 29)

As presented in MAAP #118, Amazon Conservation launched a real-time fire monitoring app that specializes in the rapid and user-friendly detection and visualization of major Amazon fires.

In a novel approach, the app combines data from the atmosphere (aerosol emissions in smoke) and the ground (heat anomalies) to effectively monitor large Amazon fires.

2020 Amazon major fire #12, in Mato Grosso Brazil, on June 29. Data: Planet. Analysis: MAAP/Amazon Conservation.
2020 Amazon major fire #12, in Mato Grosso Brazil, on June 29. Data: Planet. Analysis: MAAP/Amazon Conservation.

As detailed below, the app just detected the 12th major Amazon fire of the year on June 29, 2020 (see the high-resolution image to the right).

It burned 587 hectares (1,451 acres) of land deforested in 2019.

Thus far, all 12 major Amazon fires of 2020 have:

  • Occured in the state of Mato Grosso, in the southeastern Brazilian Amazon.
  • Burned recently deforested areas (that is, areas deforested in 2018, 2019, or 2020). In other words, these are not forest fires. See MAAP #113 for background on this important point.

Below, we describe the process of using the app to detect and confirm the fire on June 29.

 

Step 1.

Detection of elevated emissions in the southeastern Brazilian Amazon (Mato Grosso).

Step 1. Detection of elevated emissions in the southeastern Brazilian Amazon (Mato Grosso).

Step 2.

Zoom in to confirm the elevated aerosol emissions, indicating the burning of abundant biomass.

Step 2. Zoom in to confirm the elevated aerosol emissions, indicating the burning of abundant biomass.

 

Step 3.

Adjust the transparency to see the underlying fire alerts that indicate the exact location of the fires. Obtain coordinates of the source of the fires.

Step 3. Adjust the transparency to see the underlying fire alerts that indicate the exact location of the fires. Obtain coordinates of the source of the fires.

Step 4.

Confirm fire with satellite imagery. For example, here is a high resolution image from Planet Explorer showing the fire burning on June 29.

Step 4. Confirm fire with satellite imagery. For example, here is a high resolution image from Planet Explorer showing the fire burning on June 29.

Step 5.

Using Planet’s extensive imagery archive, we were able to determine that the fires were burning an area deforested in 2019 (and not a forest fire). In the timelapse below, see that the deforestation occurred between September and October 2019, and then burned on June 29, 2020. The final image shows the day after the fires, June 30, to see the full extent of the burn.

Coordinates

-10.99, -55.13

References

Gorelick, N., Hancher, M., Dixon, M., Ilyushchenko, S., Thau, D., & Moore, R. (2017). Google Earth Engine: Planetary-scale geospatial analysis for everyone. Remote Sensing of Environment.
Planet Team (2017). Planet Application Program Interface: In Space for Life on Earth. San Francisco, CA. https://api.planet.com

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the following major funders: USAID/NASA (SERVIR), Global Forest Watch Small Grants Fund (WRI), Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD),  International Conservation Fund of Canada (ICFC), Metabolic Studio, and Erol Foundation.

 

Citation

Finer M, Villa L (2020) Amazon Fire Tracker 2020: Brazil #12 (June 29). MAAP.