New satellite image-processing software will be able to notice disturbances in tree canopy cover in areas as small as a baseball diamond infield and issue an alert in as few as eight hours after detection, according to Nature.
Forest conservationists hope the software will bolster their ability to monitor and combat deforestation. Written by a team from the University of Maryland, it is able to detect subtle changes like a new road in previously untouched forest, a common harbinger of upcoming clear cutting, according to Nature. Similar satellite programs active today aren’t able to get that close to the ground, the report said.
“It’s going to be very, very helpful,” Brian Zutta Salazar, a remote-sensing scientist at the Peruvian Ministry of the Environment in Lima, told Nature.
The program started this month, with the data being hosted by the World Resources Institute on its Global Forest Watch website. Users will be able to sign up for alerts when forest density changes in specific areas.
Initially imagery will only be available from Peru, the Republic of Congo and Indonesia, but the UM professor behind the software, Matthew Hansen, told Reuters it’s the team’s challenge this year to add more countries to the list.
