KTH researchers publish paper on radar and AI for wildfire monitoring in Nature Scientific Reports

In recent years, the world witnessed many devastating wildfires, most recently in Australia, that resulted in destructive human and environmental impacts across the globe. Emergency response and rapid response for mitigation call for effective approaches for near real-time wildfire monitoring. Capable of penetrating clouds and smoke, and imaging day and night, Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) can play a critical role in wildfire monitoring.

ESA Sentinel-2 images of wildfires near Sydney, Australia on December 31, 2019.
ESA Sentinel-2 images of wildfires near Sydney, Australia on December 31, 2019.

Yifang Ban, KTH Professor and her team, Puzhao Zhang, her PhD student and Dr Andrea Nascetti, Research Scientist at Division of Geoinformatics, investigated and demonstrated the potential of Sentinel-1 SAR time series with a deep learning framework for near real-time wildfire progression monitoring.

In collaboration with researchers from Canadian Forest Services and British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development in Canada, their results are published in the journal Nature Scientific Reports entitled ‘Near Real-Time Wildfire Progression Monitoring with Sentinel-1 SAR Time Series and Deep Learning’.

More news

A hand holds a round object against a blurred sunset background. Text reads: Digital Futures marks its fifth anniversary this October – five years since its inauguration on 1 October 2020.

Shaping the next five years: Annika Szabo Portela on leading Digital Futures

01/10/2025

Digital Futures marks its fifth anniversary this October – five years since its inauguration on...

A speaker stands on stage under a large screen that reads, “Welcome to SafeComp 2025! Social event with research demonstrations, posters and surprises in the KTH Reactor Hall (R1)!” at KTH, with event logos and colourful lighting.

SafeComp 2025: Shaping the Future of Safety-Critical Computing

24/09/2025

From September 9–12, 2025, nearly 200 participants from more than 20 countries gathered at KTH Royal Institute...

Five people stand side by side indoors against a wall of vertical wooden slats. Four men and one woman face the camera, all casually dressed, with natural light illuminating the scene.

From Stockholm to Berkeley: Students on research without borders

22/09/2025

Every summer, the Digital Futures Summer Research Internship (SRI) offers students from KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University the...

Black, bold, uppercase letters spelling HITACHI centred on a white background.

Hitachi Energy – new partner in the Digital Futures Industrial & Societal Partnership Program

16/09/2025

Joining forces to accelerate a sustainable energy future through digitalization Digitalization has the potential to...