As Australia heads into the bushfire season a new satellite based tool is helping communities and land managers monitor vegetation moisture and identify areas where fire risk could increase.
Developed by Geoscience Australia using observations from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-2 satellites, the publicly available tool estimates fuel moisture content across Australia at a resolution of 20 metres. Updated approximately every five days, the data provides a record dating back to 2015.
Lower vegetation moisture generally makes plants more flammable, allowing fires to ignite more easily, burn hotter and spread faster. The tool can therefore provide more detailed information than broad seasonal fire-risk forecasts.
Researchers examined conditions in the Australian Capital Territory in August 2026 and found significant differences across the region. While slightly more than half of the territory was at least as moist as usual, parts of southern ACT were drier than average.
The researchers also found that vegetation had dried faster between July and August 2026 than during most of the previous decade. Although overall conditions were not as dry as in August 2018 and 2019, before the devastating 2019–20 Black Summer bushfires, continued rapid drying could increase fire concerns in some areas later in spring.
The researchers said the high resolution information could help agencies, land managers, Indigenous communities and landholders identify areas requiring closer monitoring and preparedness.
The data could also support planning for prescribed burns by showing where vegetation moisture levels may be suitable for burning and where conditions are changing rapidly. However, fuel moisture alone cannot determine whether a controlled burn should proceed, as decisions also depend on weather, fuel loads, terrain, smoke impacts, resources and on ground conditions.