"From the Ashes": Environmental Remote Sensing by TU Dresden in an ARD Documentary on Wildfires

“From the Ashes – What Comes After a Wildfire?”

Forests are burning all over the world—and wildfires are increasingly becoming the focus of public and scientific attention. The ARD documentary “From the Ashes—What Comes After a Wildfire?” explores what happens in nature after a wildfire and how the recovery of forests can be observed and understood.

Research conducted by the Chair of Environmental Remote Sensing at TU Dresden is also featured in the documentary. In the documentary, Prof. Dr. Matthias Forkel explains the importance of fuel moisture in assessing wildfire risk. How dry the vegetation is significantly influences how easily plant material can ignite and how a fire spreads.

The film demonstrates how fuel moisture is measured directly in the forest. In addition, Matthias Forkel provides insight into how information on vegetation moisture can be collected using satellite remote sensing and utilized for large-scale assessments of wildfire risks.

The documentary also features the research conducted by our partner group on geosensor systems , led by Assistant Professor Dr. Anette Eltner at TU Dresden. Using modern UAV and geosensor systems, the research group investigates changes in landscapes following forest fires. Among other things, this allows for the detailed recording of erosion, changes in the terrain surface, and early signs of vegetation regeneration.

These two research approaches exemplify the breadth of Earth observation research at TU Dresden: Detailed measurements using drones and geosensors are combined with large-scale observations via satellite remote sensing to study wildfires and the subsequent development of ecosystems across various spatial and temporal scales.

The documentary “From the Ashes – What Comes After the Wildfire?” is available in the ARD Media Library:

“From the Ashes – What Comes After a Wildfire?” in the ARD Media Library