GLAD’s DIST ALERT Spotlighted in NASA’s Image of the Week

Real-time forest disturbance tool developed by UMD’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD)  helps visualize wildfire damage from space

When wildfires tore through South Korea’s eastern coast in March, the scars they left behind didn’t go unnoticed. Just days after the fires, the Land Surface Disturbance product (DIST ALERT), developed by UMD’s Global Land Analysis and Discovery (GLAD) team, flagged the vegetation loss using satellite imagery, offering a near real-time view of the damage.

NASA has recently featured this work in its Worldview Image of the Week as part of the launch of the new interactive Land Disturbance Tour, which showcases real-world examples of environmental change detected by DIST ALERT.

The GLAD team built the DIST ALERT system in collaboration with NASA to deliver near real-time alerts on forest disturbance. Now integrated into the NASA Worldview platform, the tool gives researchers, decision-makers and the public easy access to up-to-date information on land change across the globe.

More About the DIST Product Suite

Image: Screenshot from NASA's Worldwide Image of the Week Facebook

Published on Thu, 05/22/2025 - 12:30