ISR Part 2

We have more exciting news to report from the front line. As some of you may know, CLASlite is a deforestation detection software product developed by a team at the Carnegie Institution for Science at Stanford University. CLASlite uses sub-pixel analysis of Landsat imagery to detect small-scale deforestation such as artisanal gold mining and selective logging. The main limitation of CLASlite is that it is unable to identify the cause of deforestation, only that it is occurring. Thus, we need a system which allows us to classify the mode of deforestation at CLASlite hits and, specifically, to determine if it is natural or anthropogenic. While high-resolution satellite imagery can be used for this purpose, it is cost-prohibitive to obtain on a regular basis. We believe that drones are the perfect tool to address this need by flying to and investigating CLASlite deforestation hits. Today we tested that belief. Here is what we found:

Here you can see one of the mines we located using CLASlite guidance. At the top-center you can see active mining with the open pit, recently felled trees with leaves still on them, and a man operating a water cannon to wash away soil. Directly below that you can see the machine used to remove gold from the sediment and the tailings pile from the processing. At left you can see the pump used to provide the all important water floating atop a raft in a pond formed by an old mine.

It is not hard to fly over the forest here and find mining activity, but the way we found this site is special. We used the most recent CLASlite data, which identified deforestation which took place between June 23rd and August 10th, and used that to target our flights. Using this method we are able to locate new deforestation rapidly and readily identify its source. Here is a visualization of the process:

Red areas indicate deforestation detected by CLASlite in the 6/23/14-8/10/14 period

We then use the CLASlite hits to plan and execute a reconnaissance flight. This is the actual flight path from today.

In addition to the mining shown above, we also found other causes of deforestation. In one case we found agricultural activity and in another we found what appears to be a false CLASlite hit over a stand of young second-growth forest.

Using this method we can augment the impressive power of the CLASlite system by adding the ability to identify the cause of deforestation and provide continual monitoring of that area, if necessary. While our current aircraft has limited range, we intend to acquire larger, longer-range aircraft which can extend this powerful monitoring capability over vast portions of the Madre de Dios region under threat from ever-increasing gold mining activity.