Global Monthly Burned Area Maps at 500-Meter Resolution

MODIS/Terra+Aqua Burned Area data provides monthly, global gridded maps of fire-affected land at a 500-meter spatial resolution. The product is generated by NASA's LPCLOUD using a combined algorithm from MODIS Surface Reflectance and active fire observations. It identifies the specific burn date for each pixel within a calendar year.

Use Cases

• Analyzing the temporal and spatial distribution of wildfires by extracting the Burn Date layer across continents.
• Assessing the reliability of burn detection for specific regions using the Burn Data Uncertainty and Quality Assurance layers.
• Modeling post-fire ecological recovery by combining Burn Date with vegetation index time-series data.
• Estimating annual burned area extent and seasonality using the First Day and Last Day of reliable change detection layers.

Strengths

• Global coverage enables continental-scale wildfire trend analysis.
• 500-meter spatial resolution provides detailed identification of burned perimeters.
• Monthly temporal resolution supports tracking of fire season dynamics.
• Algorithm uses both surface reflectance and active fire observations for detection.

Limitations

• Spatial resolution of 500 meters may not capture small or low-intensity fires.
• Known issues exist, as documented on the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website, which may affect data accuracy in certain conditions.
• Product is derived from satellite sensors with potential data gaps due to cloud cover or orbital constraints.

Provenance

Source

NASA's MODIS instruments aboard the Terra and Aqua satellites.

Collection Method

Algorithm applied to 500 m MODIS Surface Reflectance imagery and 1 km MODIS active fire observations, using a burn-sensitive Vegetation Index.

Time Range

Monthly composites, specific temporal coverage is null.

Freshness

Monthly update frequency.

Geography

Global.