How the land heals — near Vila de Rei, Portugal
5591 hectares burned near Vila de Rei, Portugal — the fire started on July 20, 2019. Below, one satellite image per year — always in the same season — shows how the vegetation returns. The detailed day-by-day image series is on the fire’s original case page van.
2019
2026
Year by year
2019-07-24
2019
What does this series show? The first image was taken right after the fire
(July 24, 2019) — the dark patch is the fresh burn scar. Each following image was taken once a year, on the clearest day around the anniversary — so the seasonal colors are comparable. Where the patch gradually turns green again, vegetation is recovering; where it stays pale or grey after years, recovery is slower. The images come from the Sentinel-2 satellites — 8 yearly images.
Contains modified Copernicus Sentinel data 2019–2026 · satellite imagery: Copernicus Sentinel-2 · the fire’s day-by-day series · more recovery pages