Google Expands Wildfire Tracking to Adapt to Climate Change

With global temperatures rising, wildfires are becoming more frequent and dangerous.

In 2023, wildfires generated approximately 2,170 megatonnes of carbon emissions and burned 384 megahectares of land. 

Alongside urgent action to reduce emissions and prevent further climate change, people must adapt to stay safe through natural disasters and more extreme temperatures.

Google is leveraging machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to address the growing threat of climate change – including tracking wildfire boundaries.

Adam Elman, Sustainability Lead for EMEA at Google, says: “As wildfires continue to impact communities around the world, Google is expanding our AI-enabled wildfire tracking to 15 countries across Europe and Africa.

“We know that people turn to Google when they need timely information – this is just the latest example of the many ways we're using AI to help them find the information they need as our climate changes.”

Google’s wildfire boundary tracking

Google’s wildfire boundary tracking uses AI and satellite imagery to map the boundaries of large wildfires.

This data is then displayed on Google Maps and Google Search alongside information from local authorities to help people stay informed of potential dangers.

“We believe our approach to AI must be both bold and responsible. To us that means developing AI in a way that maximises the positive benefits to society while addressing the challenges, guided by our AI Principles.” says James Manyika, SVP for Research, Technology and Society at Google.

Google Maps will also update users with road closures and provide directions that help avoid roadblocks and danger. 

Google gathers satellite imagery, then analyses them using a sequence of the three most recent images.

Its ML system then detects wildfire boundaries using a neural network to identify the total burnt area of the fire.

This isn’t a simple task – fires emit large smoke plumes which can spread far and obscure the flames. 

To overcome this, Google uses infrared frequencies to track the heat of a fire.

This system is able to provide updated fire boundary information every 10 to 15 minutes. This is an improvement on previous releases which were updated hourly.

Yossi Matias, Vice President for Engineering and Research at Google, says: “In 2023, our SOS alerts have provided timely safety information to over 30 million people across 120 wildfire events around the world.”

Google aims to continue improving and expanding this technology to support people who are vulnerable to wildfires.

Google’s wildfire boundary maps expansion

This technology was initially piloted in California in 2019 and was launched in the US, Canada, Australia, Brazil, Argentina, Chile and Mexico. 

As of August 2024, Google’s wildfire boundary maps have been expanded to 15 countries across Europe and Africa:

• Andorra
• Bosnia & Herzegovina
• Croatia
• Cyprus
• France
• Greece
• Italy
• Kenya
• Monaco
• Montenegro
• Portugal
• Rwanda
• Slovenia
• Spain
• Türkiye

Whilst rolling out this new capability, Google mapped over 40 wildfires in southern Europe including fires in Spain, Greece and Cyprus. 

This information reached as many as 1.4 million people in the first week alone.

Google’s AI natural disaster tools

Google Maps also shows alerts for earthquakes, floods, hurricanes or typhoons and tropical storms.

Alerts for these crises contain a crisis sheet with relevant information, updates and news articles. 

Floods are the most common natural disaster and cause thousands of fatalities each year.

Google’s Flood Hub platform displays Flood Forecasts for over 80 countries, giving warnings up to seven days in advance using advanced AI and geospatial analysis.

The company also has tools to combat extreme heat, including extreme heat alerts, details on when heat waves are expected to start and end, tips on staying cool and health related concerns to be aware of.

Its Tree Canopy tool combines AI and aerial imagery to show where shaded areas are in cities, helping them to better understand where to plant more trees to prevent ‘heat islands’.

******

Make sure you check out the latest edition of Sustainability Magazine and also sign up to our global conference series - Sustainability LIVE 2024

******

Sustainability Magazine is a BizClik brand

******