Global VIIRS Active Fire Detections: Near-Real-Time Thermal Anomalies

Near-real-time global active fire and thermal anomaly detections from NASA's FIRMS, derived from VIIRS sensors. Data is continuously updated, typically within 3 hours of satellite acquisition, and is available in 24-hour, 48-hour, and 7-day time windows. Files are provided in SHP, KML, and CSV formats via external links to NASA-hosted resources.

Use Cases

• Monitor wildfire outbreaks based on near-real-time thermal anomaly detection.
• Analyze global fire activity trends based on continuous satellite data updates.
• Model fire spread and risk based on geospatial point data available in SHP and KML formats.
• Integrate fire detection data into disaster response systems based on the 3-hour update latency.

Strengths

• Data is updated continuously, typically within 3 hours of satellite acquisition.
• Provides global coverage from multiple VIIRS satellite sensors.
• Offers data in multiple geospatial formats: SHP, KML, and CSV.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count and total dataset size are unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.

Provenance

Source

NASA Fire Information for Resource Management System (FIRMS)

Collection Method

Derived from VIIRS sensor family (Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21).

Time Range

Suomi-NPP data since 2011, NOAA-20 since 2017, NOAA-21 since 2022; data windows are last 24h, 48h, 7d.

Freshness

Continuously updated; last metadata update was 2026-05-13 14:46:28.144971.

Geography

Global