Farmers have now learned that satellites can only see what happens when they pass overhead. If fields are set ablaze outside those observation windows, many fires go undetected.
Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, India’s former President, mastered satellite evasion for Pokhran’s atomic tests. Today, Punjab and Haryana farmers use similar tactics to evade farm fire detection
In May 1998, under the leadership of scientists including Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, India conducted the Shakti series of five nuclear tests at Pokhran in Rajasthan while successfully concealing crucial preparations from some of the most sophisticated American spy satellites in orbit.
Farmers have now learned that satellites can only see what happens when they pass overhead. If fields are set ablaze outside those observation windows, many fires go undetected.
The latest sign of this challenge is the launch of Fire Watch, a new multi-satellite monitoring platform developed by the International Forum for Environment, Sustainability and Technology (iFOREST). The platform has been designed as traditional fire-counting methods are missing a substantial part of the picture.
“Current monitoring relies on fire counts from polar-orbiting satellites, which give an incomplete picture of stubble burning,” said Dr Chandra Bhushan, CEO of iFOREST.
“To design effective interventions, we need to know not only how many fires are detected, but also where and when burning takes place and how much land is affected. Fire Watch brings these data together to make better information available to policymakers and the public.”