Algeria Wildfire Burned Areas from Sentinel-2 Satellite Imagery, August 2021

UNOSAT analysis FR20210811DZA maps vegetation burned by wildfires on August 12, 2021, in the Blida, Bouira, and Medea provinces of Algeria. The preliminary assessment, based on Sentinel-2 satellite imagery, estimates approximately 4,300 hectares of forest and vegetation cover burned across 240,000 hectares analyzed. The most affected communes were Boukram (1,350 ha), Deux Bassins (950 ha), and Souhane (650 ha).

Use Cases

• Map wildfire extent and severity based on satellite-observed burned areas.
• Assess damage to forest and vegetation cover in specific Algerian communes.
• Support post-disaster recovery planning based on preliminary, rapid satellite assessment.
• Validate or compare ground-based wildfire impact surveys with satellite data.

Strengths

• Provides a specific burned area estimate of approximately 4,300 hectares.
• Identifies the three most affected communes with precise hectare figures (1,350, 950, 650).
• Based on Sentinel-2 satellite imagery acquired at a known date and time (2021-08-12, 10:40 UTC).

Limitations

• Description metadata is limited; actual data quality requires manual inspection after download.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• The analysis is described as preliminary and not yet validated on the ground.

Provenance

Source

United Nations Satellite Centre (UNOSAT)

Collection Method

Analysis of Sentinel-2 satellite imagery.

Time Range

2021-08-12

Freshness

Last updated 2026-05-31 09:24:42.676484; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Blida, Bouira, and Medea provinces, Algeria