Sentinel-2 Change Detection

The deforestation event happened Tuesday. You'll know by Thursday.

Biodivex processes Sentinel-2 multispectral passes to flag land-cover changes at 0.3-hectare resolution — before a ranger patrol reaches the site.

Alert latency: < 48 hours from satellite pass to delivery
0.3 ha
Minimum detection area — small-scale clearing events captured
< 48 hr
Alert latency from Sentinel-2 overpass to delivery
~94%
Precision on cleared area detection in tropical forest
S-1+2
Sentinel-1 SAR + Sentinel-2 MSI sensor fusion

How the detection pipeline works

Three steps from satellite pass to actionable alert.

01

Ingestion

Sentinel-2 Level-2A surface reflectance pass ingested every 5 days. Sentinel-1 SAR for cloud-penetrating corroboration on tropical and wetland sites.

02

Spectral analysis

Band differencing on NIR (B8), SWIR1 (B11), SWIR2 (B12) against a 6-week rolling baseline. Threshold tuned per biome class. Change polygons via watershed segmentation.

03

Alert delivery

Change polygons above threshold pushed to dashboard, REST API (GeoJSON), or webhook. Each alert carries polygon ID, area, confidence score, and band signatures.

Detection Output

A detection alert is a machine-readable evidence record, not a map marker

Each event carries the GeoJSON polygon boundary, area in hectares, confidence score weighted by cloud-free observation count and SAR corroboration, band delta values for NIR and SWIR, and biome class. The record is ready for legal documentation or direct ingestion into a GHG inventory system.

See the full detection pipeline
BDX-2025-11892 ALERT
Area detected 0.47 ha
Confidence score 91%
Detection date 2025-11-14
SAR corroboration Confirmed
Biome class Tropical moist forest
Band change delta
NIR B8
−0.31
SWIR1 B11
−0.44
SWIR2 B12
−0.38
Conservation

Near-real-time field response

Land trusts and conservation NGOs have historically discovered clearing events weeks after the fact — during the quarterly aerial survey or when a patrol happens to pass. By then, enforcement is reactive at best.

Biodivex alerts arrive within 48 hours of the satellite pass. The polygon coordinates are ready for legal documentation before a ranger has reached the site.

Conservation use case details

ESG & Corporate

Parcel-level evidence for EUDR and Scope 3

Annual satellite snapshots aren't sufficient for the EU Deforestation Regulation or Scope 3 supply chain disclosure. ESG teams need a continuous, date-stamped, parcel-level evidentiary record.

Biodivex provides GeoJSON polygon records with timestamps, confidence scores, and band signatures — the technical documentation that compliance frameworks require.

ESG use case details

Sensor inputs to the detection pipeline

Sentinel-2 MSI
Sentinel-1 SAR
Landsat 8/9 OLI
Planet SuperDove

What practitioners say

We used to find out about clearing events during the quarterly aerial survey. Now we know within two days and have the polygon coordinates ready for legal action.

Field Conservation Director, Pacific Northwest land trust

Our Scope 3 deforestation disclosure had a credibility problem — annual satellite snapshots aren't enough for EUDR evidence. Biodivex gives us the parcel-level, date-stamped record we needed.

Sustainability Data Lead, agricultural commodity trader

Define an area of interest and see what the last Sentinel-2 pass shows

Tell us the geography, biome type, and minimum detectable clearing size you need — we'll confirm sensor coverage, revisit frequency, and expected confidence scores for your AOI.