Research leader

Prof Simon Jones Research Leader
Dr Karin Reinke
Dr Karin Reinke Research Leader

Research team

Prof Nicholas Chrisman Research Team
Dr Andreas Eckhardt Research Team
Dr Frank Lehmann Research Team
Alex Held
Dr Alex Held Research Team
Ian Grant
Dr Ian Grant Research Team
Andrew Skidmore
Prof Andrew Skidmore Research Team
Anthony Griffiths
Anthony Griffiths Research Team
Luke Wallace
Luke Wallace Research Team
Sofia Oliveira
Sofia Oliveira Research Team
Dr Chermelle Engel Research Team
Dr Bryan Hally Research Team

End User representatives

Brad Davies End-User
David Taylor End-User
Adam Damen End-User
Matt Chesnais End-User
Andrew Grace End-User
David Hudson End-User
Simeon Telfer End-User
Danni Wright End-User
Dr Tim Sanders End-User

Student researchers

Dr Bryan Hally Student Reseacher

This project sought to optimise the use of earth observing systems for active fire monitoring by exploring issues of scale, accuracy and reliability, and to improve the mapping and estimation of post-fire severity and fuel change through empirical remote sensing observations. Understanding the trade-offs between sensors and their ability to map and measure fire-related attributes over a range of different landscapes and fire scenarios is important.

The study has improved the accuracy of vegetation monitoring for flammability, as well as saving critical man hours through the development of a beta smartphone application. Fuels3D, built on the Android platform, allows land managers to rapidly collect imagery in the field and uses computer vision and photogrammetric techniques to calculate measures of fuel and severity metrics.

Additionally, this project is leading Australian contributions to integrate and enhance Australianled existing disaster monitoring and reporting systems with next generation earth observation technology and systems from the German Aerospace Centre and other agencies.

Outcomes are enabling satellite measures of fire activity to be made, which in turn have the potential to inform or support efforts in bushfire response planning and fire rehabilitation efforts. A particular focus is on the analysis of data obtained from Himawari-8, which is able to provide updated imagery on a 10 minute basis.

The project used simulations and real world experiments to determine the accuracy with which fires can be detected, their temperature and shape determined, for a range of landscapes. The project also created new techniques and protocols for the rapid attribution of fire landscapes (pre- and post-fire). These techniques seek to add quantitative vigour to existing fuel hazard estimation practices.

Read the final project report here, and the Fuels 3D final report here.

Year Type Citation
2022 Report Jones, S., Reinke, K. & Engel, C. Active fire detection using the Himawari-8 satellite - final project report. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2022).
2022 Report Jones, S. et al. Fuels3D - final project report. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2022).
2021 Journal Article Saldias, D. San Martin, Reinke, K., McLennan, B. & Wallace, L. The influence of satellite imagery on landscape perception. Landscape Research (2021). doi:https://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2021.1886264
2021 Journal Article Hillman, S., Wallace, L., Reinke, K. & Jones, S. A comparison between TLS and UAS LiDAR to represent eucalypt crown fuel characteristics. ISPRS Journal of Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing 181, 295-307 (2021).
2020 Journal Article Wallace, L., Hally, B., Hillman, S., Jones, S. & Reinke, K. Terrestrial Image-Based Point Clouds for Mapping Near-Ground Vegetation Structure: Potential and Limitations. Fire 3, (2020).
2020 Journal Article Engel, C., Jones, S. & Reinke, K. A Seasonal-Window Ensemble-Based Thresholding Technique Used to Detect Active Fires in Geostationary Remotely Sensed Data. IEEE Transactions on Geoscience and Remote Sensing (2020). doi:10.1109/TGRS.2020.3018455
2020 Journal Article McGlade, J. et al. An early exploration of the use of the Microsoft Azure Kinect for estimation of urban tree Diameter at Breast Height. Remote Sensing Letters 11, 963-972 (2020).
2020 Journal Article Garcia-Haro, F. Javier et al. A global canopy water content product from AVHRR/Metop. Remote Sensing 162, 77-93 (2020).
2020 Report Hally, B., Reinke, K., Wallace, L. & Jones, S. Quantifying fuel hazard assessments - Fuels3D annual report 2019-2020. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2020).
2020 Report Jones, S., Reinke, K. & Engel, C. Active fire detection using the Himawari-8 satellite - annual report 2019-2020. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2020).
2020 Report Jones, S., Reinke, K. & Engel, C. Active fire detection using the Himawari-8 satellite - annual report 2018-19. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2020).
2020 Report Hally, B., Reinke, K., Wallace, L. & Jones, S. Quantifying fuel hazard assessments - Fuels3D annual report 2018-2019. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2020).
2019 Conference Paper Reinke, K., Wallace, L., Hillman, S., Hally, B. & Jones, S. Fuels3D: barking up the wrong tree and beyond. AFAC19 powered by INTERSCHUTZ - Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forum (Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, 2019). at <https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/australian-journal-of-emergency-management-monograph-series/>
2019 Conference Paper Engel, C., Matthews, S., Jones, S. & Reinke, K. Detecting active fires from space using Himawari-8: a report from the regional New South Wales trial . AFAC19 powered by INTERSCHUTZ - Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC Research Forum (Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience, 2019). at <https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/australian-journal-of-emergency-management-monograph-series/>
2019 Journal Article Hillman, S. et al. A Method for Validating the Structural Completeness of Understory Vegetation Models Captured with 3D Remote Sensing. Remote Sensing 11, (2019).
2019 Report Jones, S., Reinke, K. & Engel, C. Active fires: Early fire detection and mapping using HIMAWARI-8 Annual Report 2017-2018. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2019).
2018 Conference Paper Wallace, L. et al. Experiences in the in-field utilisation of fuels3D. AFAC18 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2018).
2018 Conference Paper Engel, C., Jones, S. & Reinke, K. Performance of fire detection algorithms using himawari-8. AFAC18 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2018).
2018 Conference Paper Bates, J. Research proceedings from the 2018 Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and AFAC Conference. Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC & AFAC annual conference 2017 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2018).
2018 Journal Article Hally, B. et al. Estimating Fire Background Temperature at a Geostationary Scale—An Evaluation of Contextual Methods for AHI-8. Remote Sensing 10, (2018).
2018 Report Reinke, K., Jones, S. & Wallace, L. Fuels3D: annual project report 2017-18. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2018).
2017 Conference Paper Rumsewicz, M. Research proceedings from the 2017 Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC and AFAC Conference. Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC & AFAC annual conference 2017 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017).
2017 Conference Paper Wallace, L. et al. Mapping the efficacy of an Australian fuel reduction burn using Fuels3D point clouds. AFAC17 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017).
2017 Conference Paper Hally, B., Wallace, L., Reinke, K., Wickramasinghe, C. & Jones, S. Enhanced estimation of background temperature for fire detection using new geostationary sensors. AFAC17 (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017).
2017 Journal Article Spits, C., Wallace, L. & Reinke, K. Investigating surface and near-surface bushfire fuel attributes: a comparison between visual assessments and image-based point clouds. Sensors 17, (2017).
2017 Journal Article Wallace, L., Hillman, S., Reinke, K. & Hally, B. Non-destructive estimation of above-ground surface and near-surface biomass using 3D terrestrial remote sensing techniques. Methods in Ecology and Evolution 8, (2017).
2017 Journal Article Hally, B., Wallace, L., Reinke, K. & Jones, S. A Broad-Area Method for the Diurnal Characterisation of Upwelling Medium Wave Infrared Radiation. Remote Sensing 9, (2017).
2017 Report Jones, S., Reinke, K., Mitchell, S., McConachie, F. & Holland, C. Advances in the remote sensing of active fires: a review. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017).
2017 Report Wallace, L., Reinke, K. & Jones, S. Emerging technologies for estimating fuel hazard. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017).
2017 Report Jones, S., Reinke, K. & Wallace, L. Disaster landscape attribution: annual report 2016-17. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2017).
2016 Journal Article Wallace, L., Gupta, V., Reinke, K. & Jones, S. An Assessment of Pre- and Post Fire Near Surface Fuel Hazard in an Australian Dry Sclerophyll Forest Using Point Cloud Data Captured Using a Terrestrial Laser Scanner. Remote Sensing 8, (2016).
2016 Journal Article Mitchell, S., Jones, S., Reinke, K., Lorenz, E. & Reulke, R. Assessing the utility of the TET-1 hotspot detection and characterization algorithm for determining wildfire size and temperature. International Journal of Remote Sensing 37, 4731-4747 (2016).
2016 Report Jones, S., Reinke, K. & Wallace, L. Disaster landscape attribution: fire surveillance and hazard mapping, data scaling and validation: Annual project report. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2016).
2015 Journal Article Gupta, V., Reinke, K., Jones, S., Wallace, L. & Holden, L. Assessing Metrics for Estimating Fire Induced Change in the Forest Understorey Structure Using Terrestrial Laser Scanning. Remote Sensing 7, 8180-8201 (2015).
2015 Presentation Jones, S. & Reinke, K. Disaster landscape attribution, active fire detection and hazard mapping. (2015).
2015 Report Jones, S. Disaster Landscape Attribution: Fire Surveillance and Hazard Mapping, Data Scaling and Validation Annual Report 2014. (2015).
2015 Report Jones, S. & Reinke, K. Disaster landscape attribution: Annual project report 2014-2015. (Bushfire and Natural Hazards CRC, 2015).
Date Title Download Key Topics
21 Mar 2014 Monitoring and prediction PDF icon 7.35 MB (7.35 MB) flood, modelling, multi-hazard
08 Sep 2014 The effect of the degree of grass curing on the behaviour of grassland fires PDF icon 17.65 MB (17.65 MB) fire
27 Oct 2014 The effect of the degree of grass curing on the behaviour of grassland fires fire, propagation
05 Dec 2014 Thermal anomaly and hazard mapping PDF icon 670.97 KB (670.97 KB) fire, forecasting
26 Feb 2016 Fire Australia Summer 2015-16 PDF icon 11.81 MB (11.81 MB) earthquake, fire impacts, volunteering
03 Apr 2016 Monitoring and prediction - cluster overview File 0 bytes (0 bytes) forecasting, multi-hazard, scenario analysis
24 Oct 2016 Disaster landscape attribution, active fire detection and hazard mapping PDF icon 1.9 MB (1.9 MB) fire, fire impacts, remote sensing
28 Nov 2016 Monitoring and predicting natural hazards PDF icon 853.18 KB (853.18 KB) forecasting, modelling, severe weather
07 Jul 2017 Building bushfire predictive services capability - Simon Heemstra File 0 bytes (0 bytes) fire, fire impacts, modelling
07 Sep 2017 Enhanced estimation of background temperature for fire detection using new geostationary sensors PDF icon 1.11 MB (1.11 MB) fire, fire impacts, remote sensing
31 Oct 2017 Mapping the fire landscape: active fire surveillance and fuel hazard assessments PDF icon 869.85 KB (869.85 KB) fire, fire impacts, modelling
18 Sep 2018 Experiences in the in-field utilisation of Fuels3D PDF icon 2.49 MB (2.49 MB) fire, fire severity, modelling
18 Sep 2018 Performance of fire detection algorithms using Himawari-8 PDF icon 5.93 MB (5.93 MB)
23 Nov 2018 Fire surveillance and fuel PDF icon 2.65 MB (2.65 MB) fire, fire severity
27 Aug 2019 Detecting Active Fires using Himawari-8: a report from the NSW trial PDF icon 2.9 MB (2.9 MB) fire, fire impacts
27 Aug 2019 Fuels3D and the assessment of bark hazard PDF icon 13.38 MB (13.38 MB) fire, fire impacts
17 Oct 2019 Fuels3D PDF icon 5.15 MB (5.15 MB) fire, fire impacts
07 Jul 2020 AFAC webinar: Active fire detection using the Himawari-8 satellite File 0 bytes (0 bytes) fire, fire impacts, remote sensing
18 Nov 2020 Black Summer projects - earth observations | Northern Australia Research Engagement Forum (3/9) File 0 bytes (0 bytes) indigenous communities, local knowledge, Northern Australia
25 Nov 2020 Finding fires faster fire, fire impacts, remote sensing
Disaster landscape attribution: Thermal anomaly and hazard mapping
25 Aug 2014
This project seeks to (1) optimize the use of earth observing systems for active fire monitoring by exploring...
Disaster landscape attribution
18 Aug 2015
Understanding the utility of thermal remote sensing systems for active fire detection and monitoring....
Disaster Landscape Attribution: Low Cost 3D Monitoring of Fuel Hazard
18 Aug 2015
In the last decade A range of sensing technologies, techniques and platforms have emerged to capture 3D...
Luke Wallace Conference Poster 2016
14 Aug 2016
This project aims to attribute fire landscapes using the latest remote sensing technology.
The detection and surveillance of active fire using Himawari-8
29 Jun 2017
Himawari-8 presents exciting opportunities to map fires in near real time. Exploiting information across...
Fuels3D: what's the point?
29 Jun 2017
The Fuels3D app provides a low cost data collection method for estimating fuel hazard metrics. Testing of the...
Cloudy with a chance of fire
19 Sep 2018
Recent advances in remote sensing have led to geostationary satellite data being available over Australia ...
Fuels3D
19 Sep 2018
Fuels3D is a smart-phone app coupled with photogrammetry and computer vision techniques to produce 3D point...
31 Aug 2020
Key findings: Real time wildfire detection trial using Himawari-8