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Cloudy looking monity1/7/2023 ![]() The development of the RADD alerts was initiated by ten of the world’s largest palm oil producers and buyers keen to advance a system of deforestation monitoring that was uninhibited by cloud cover in order to more reliably detect and address changes within their supply chains. Early adopters leverage RADD alerts for supply chain sustainability RADD radar alerts cover humid tropical forests in South America, Central Africa and Southeast Asia. Using RADD alerts, forest monitors will be able to react to deforestation sooner than ever, which will give them an edge in preventing further loss. As a result, the RADD alerts based on this data can reliably detect deforestation and other forest disturbances with minimal delays. Thanks to Sentinel-1, the public now has access to free radar data that covers the tropics every 6 to 12 days. The radio waves emitted by radar satellites are not hampered by cloud cover their longer wavelengths allow them to penetrate through clouds to reach the ground. Delays in alerts make it harder to respond to instances of illegal deforestation – in some cases, the people deforesting may have already gone. While GFW’s existing alerts (based on optical data) report changes as soon as they are detected, it can sometimes take months before a cloud-free image is acquired and the change detected. In many rainforests, we may only get a cloud-free satellite image a few times a year, and those often only during the dry season. If clouds get in between the satellite and the ground, we have to wait at least eight days until the satellite makes a full orbit to try again at that location. “Optical” sensors, like those on NASA’s Landsat satellites, can only capture images of the ground on cloud-free days. RADD alerts can detect changes faster than ever Here are some key things to know about GFW’s newest alert system: 1. These radar-based alerts will serve as another tool to quickly uncover recent deforestation and take action. The RADD alerts are built from the world’s first global, freely available radar data from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-1 satellites. However, the new Radar for Detecting Deforestation (RADD) alerts on Global Forest Watch, detect forest disturbances rain or shine using satellite-based radar data. This has long presented an issue for forest monitoring, since traditional satellite technology is unable to “see” through obstructions like clouds, smoke and haze. Rainforests, as the name suggests, are often rainy- which means they are also frequently cloudy.
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