One of their projects, DIST-ALERT, is an innovative, satellite-based monitoring system providing near-real-time information on land cover changes around the world. Having been developed in conjunction with the OPERA Land Surface Disturbance Alert, this creative system is a watershed moment for environmental monitoring. By utilizing data from multiple satellites, DIST-ALERT provides critical insights into how human activities, weather events, and other factors contribute to land transformation across the globe.
A passionate group from the University of Maryland’s Department of Geographical Sciences (GEOG) stood up DIST-ALERT. With a mighty analytical punch, this innovative tool ingests high-resolution images across five satellites. Recently launched satellites such as Landsat 8 and 9, and Sentinel-2A, B and C are contributing to this process. The system’s design enables a rapid revisit rate of just 1 to 4 days, allowing scientists to access vital information quickly and efficiently.
A Comprehensive Monitoring Approach
Though the DIST-ALERT system, constructed with specific scalability, flexibility and accuracy features, is to monitor underlying drivers resulting in land cover change. For example, it monitors disruptions due to anthropogenic forces such as agriculture or urban encroachment. Beyond manmade crises, it tracks real-time natural disasters, tracking events such as wildfires and severe weather. DIST-ALERT has a detailed description of these developments. This allows researchers to better understand how land use and development affect the environment.
This year, the system showed us some alarming data. Human-led land conversion has already taken more than 28.6 million hectares (Mha) of transformed land. This area exceeds the total landmass of countries like Ecuador or states like Colorado, highlighting the extent of global land transformation. DIST-ALERT’s results were recently released in the journal Nature Communications. It underscores the extraordinary importance of this study to move forward our understanding of environmental science.
Research carried out using DIST-ALERT has shed light on the dramatic changes in land use over the last few years. These data during the years of 2020–2023 indicate a steep increase in the rate of land conversion. This disturbing trend is beginning to alarm scientists and policymakers alike.
“The conversion of natural lands to land use is a significant contributor to climate warming,” – Matthew Hansen
Enhancing Data Accessibility
One of the most exciting things about DIST-ALERT is that it allows for real-time data. With conventional approaches typically requiring weeks or months just to analyze the impact of a change, this system cuts that time down to size dramatically. For the first time, researchers are able to track disturbances and evaluate changes to land cover within days or even hours after they happen.
As Amy H. Pickens, the first author of the paper detailing DIST-ALERT’s capabilities, noted:
“There are a lot of aspirations to protect land and a lot of need to manage land, to make sure it is being used in the most valuable ways. But you can’t do that unless you have data about what’s going on.”
This shift towards data-driven decision-making highlights the need for timely, accurate information in tackling environmental challenges.
Additionally, DIST-ALERT’s satellite-based approach helps to alleviate problems associated with cloud cover that may otherwise block key observations from space. Pickens explained:
“These satellites are affected by [cloud cover], and if we don’t see the ground, we don’t know whether disturbances have happened. So with more observations we get more opportunities to get a cloud-free observation, and each observation can matter so much, particularly in cloudy areas.”
Implications for Future Research
DIST-ALERT’s impacts extend far beyond what we can see and immediately experience. It provides new opportunities for studying land use and its role in fighting climate change, in the long term. This fine-grained tracking of changes – who has changed into what – greatly empowers researchers. They can build more—or better—models to project future environmental impacts.
The researchers at UC Davis are just beginning to explore the wealth of data that DIST-ALERT makes available. Through their analysis, they will identify patterns of land use change that should inform policy and encourage targeted conservation efforts. The architecture of the system sets it in line with international goals to use land resources sustainably and combat climate change.