When wildfires hit Alberta earlier this month, leaving more than 10,000 square kilometres of land scorched so far this year, Joao Lopes was worried about how much more devastation could be on its way.
Canada alone sees about 7,500 wildfires burn more than 2.5 million hectares of forest -- about half the size of Nova Scotia -- every year and that amount is projected to double by 2050, the Canadian Space Agency has said. SensaioTech's offering is centred on artificial intelligence-equipped sensors it places in forests and farm environments. The sensors monitor 14 different variables including soil temperature, humidity, luminosity, salinity, PH levels, pests and diseases.
"When you have satellites, normally the images are collected three or four days ago, so basically, you cannot see the real time," he said.The Union of Concerned Scientists has counted 971 satellites that can track smoke and other wildfire factors, up from 192 in 2014. However, few fly over northern latitudes such as Canada's and many only capture times when fires aren't burning at their peak.
The satellite will fly over Canada in the late afternoon, when fire activity is at its peak, giving firefighters even better ability to predict wildfire behaviour. The company's philosophy is that wildfires "aren't going to go away," said Liene Lapševska, a communications lead at the company.Cheryl Evans, director of flood and wildfire resilience at the Intact Centre on Climate Adaption at the University of Waterloo in Ontario, agrees.