Explaining the Australian Bushfires with Deep Learning

For months, Australia has been ravaged by bushfires. These massive fires, fueled by lengthy droughts and high temperatures, have caught the world's attention as lives have been lost and entire towns have been evacuated. But even as the firefighters push back against the flames, another kind of flame war has emerged: the debate over whether or not changes in the world's climate are responsible for the devastating scale of the bushfires. As it turns out, deep learning techniques may have already provided some crucial answers. A few years ago, the seemingly increasing frequency of Australian bushfires had already caught the attention of a group of Tasmanian researchers.