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Climate Risks and Disasters
Satellite Data to Support Natural Disaster Monitoring, Response and Resilience
Earth observation data for mapping natural hazards and mitigating damage from disasters such as floods, fires, and hurricanes.
Protect lives and infrastructures
Wildfires
- Near-real-time fire detection
- Monitoring of fire progression (extent, direction)
- Mapping of burned areas and estimation of damage to vegetation and infrastructure
- Assisting in planning extinguishing operations
- Monitoring of post-fire ecosystem regeneration
Floods
- Detection and mapping of flooded areas
- Tracking the progress of the event
- Damage assessment for buildings, roads, and crops
- Support for evacuation and rescue planning
- Modeling of potential damage due to floods
Earthquakes & hurricanes
- Mapping of damaged areas
- Detection of collapsed buildings and rapid assessment of damage to critical infrastructure
- Identification of the most affected areas to prioritize efforts
- Location of relief camps or temporary hospitals
- Support for post-crisis reconstruction and urban planning
Wildfires
Wildfires cast significant shadows over ecosystems, public safety, and property, particularly as they have the propensity to spread rapidly and consume vast areas. They are also becoming more frequent and destructive due to climate change. The responsiveness of Airbus' tasking capabilities coupled with our infrared and optical sensors, enable the detection and tracking of fires, as well as the assessment of the extent of their damage.
Los Angeles, USA Wildfires January 2025
Valencia, Spain floods October 2024
Floods
Devastating and sudden, floods sweep away everything in their path: roads, homes, crops, and essential utilities. Airbus' products such as SPOT, Pléiades Neo and WorldDEM™ Neo provide insights into the extent of inundation and help model the flow of floodwaters. In very cloudy areas, the radar constellation offers reliable data in all conditions, enabling civil defence and emergency managers to access the city and carry out rescue efforts.
Earthquakes & hurricanes
These phenomena occur without warning and can cause massive destruction in seconds. The complete Airbus satellite constellation including Pléiades Neo, Pléiades, SPOT, and TerraSAR-X are often mobilised by various civil security actors and local authorities to conduct a first impact study. Very high-resolution images make it possible to detect collapsed buildings, identify damaged critical infrastructure, and facilitate the location of temporary hospital areas.
Osmaniye, Türkiye earthquake February 2023
The international charter: space and major disasters
The International Charter Space and Major Disasters is a unique and worldwide collaboration, through which satellite data are made available to support crisis management. The Charter enables resources and expertise to be coordinated for rapid response to major disaster situations; thereby helping civil protection authorities and the international humanitarian community. From the very beginning, Airbus satellites have played an active role in the Charter as we took part in the first Charter activation, after a huge landslide occurred in Slovenia in November 2000. The arrival of the Charter reshaped the ways of working for the Airbus team in charge of satellite tasking. They moved from normal working-hours to a real 24/7 set-up to make sure they were ready and available to support requests from the Charter.
Flood Management in Brazil with WorldDEM™ Neo DTM
The Geological Survey of Brazil (GSB) aims to forecast river levels during floods and droughts.
Thanks to our WorldDEM Neo Digital Terrain Model (DTM), GSB used in conjunction WorldDEM Neo with SAR data to visualize the damages caused by one of the largest floods ever experienced in Brazil.
