MODIS/Terra Thermal Anomalies and Fire Detection, 5-Minute Swath Data

Daily 5-minute temporal satellite swaths from the MODIS/Terra instrument, produced by NASA until its decommissioning on July 31, 2023. The data is used to identify fires, volcanoes, and other thermal anomalies, with each swath covering approximately 2,030 by 2,300 kilometers. This Version 6 product has been succeeded by Version 6.1.

Use Cases

• Identify active wildfires and their locations based on thermal anomaly detection.
• Monitor volcanic activity through thermal signatures mentioned in the description.
• Detect fires over water, such as from oil rigs, as noted in the version improvements.
• Generate higher-level fire products using this foundational data layer.
• Assess detection confidence and filter false alarms in regions like the Amazon, as described in the known issues.

Strengths

• Data swaths have a defined spatial coverage of approximately 2,030 by 2,300 kilometers.
• Includes refinements for reducing false alarms in the Amazon and improving cloud/smoke discrimination.
• Processes ocean and coastline pixels to detect fires from sources like oil rigs.

Limitations

• This Version 6 product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023; users are directed to a newer version.
• Known issues include pre-November 2000 data quality and flagging of static sources, requiring review of external documentation.
• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Satellite observations from the MODIS/Terra instrument.

Time Range

Daily production until decommissioning on July 31, 2023.

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 23:36:22.578544; freshness should be verified as the core data product is decommissioned.

Geography

Global coverage, with each swath covering a specific ~2,030 km x 2,300 km area.