Lahaina, Maui

The August 2023 wildfire that burned through the town.

244.5 hectares changed — burnt ground · Before: 1 Jun 2023 – 25 Jul 2023 · After: 15 Aug 2023 – 30 Sep 2023 · 20.878, -156.683

BEFORE 2023-07

AFTER 2023-09

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244.5 haarea changed

8areas flagged

1,608 haarea examined

2satellites used

What changed, by type

241.9 haBurnt ground

2.6 haVegetation cleared

Land changes in both directions at once. SCOPE reports every type it measured, not only the one that makes the better headline.

What SCOPE found

Burnt ground — 180.8 ha
1.3 km south-east · between 24 Jul 2023 and 18 Aug 2023 · 98% sure

Burnt ground — 36.6 ha
1.6 km north · between 24 Jul 2023 and 18 Aug 2023 · 98% sure

Burnt ground — 22.5 ha
0.3 km north · between 24 Jul 2023 and 18 Aug 2023 · 97% sure

Burnt ground — 1.4 ha
0.3 km east · between 24 Jul 2023 and 18 Aug 2023 · 97% sure

Vegetation cleared — 1.1 ha
0.7 km north · between 24 Jul 2023 and 18 Aug 2023 · 96% sure

How sure is this?

The strongest area (#1) has 98% confidence. It appears in 6 of 6 later clear images, so it is not a one-day artefact. Radar confirmed some of these areas; the others rest on optical and seasonal evidence. Compared with the same season in earlier years, this is clearly unusual. Confidence measures how strong the evidence for real surface change is; it does not identify the cause or who did it.

How it was measured

SCOPE used Sentinel-2 optical imagery at 10 m, cloud-masked and combined over each period, Sentinel-1 radar as an independent check , and the same season in earlier years so normal seasonal change is not reported as real change. The analysis took 12 seconds.

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