VIIRS/NPP 750m Active Fire Detection and Thermal Anomalies

NASA's VIIRS/NPP Thermal Anomalies/Fire 6-Min L2 Swath 750m NRT product (VNP14_NRT) provides near-real-time detection of active fires and thermal anomalies globally. The dataset is generated using the MODIS C6 Fire algorithm applied to VIIRS sensor data from the Suomi NPP satellite, offering continuity with the MODIS fire product. It delivers detailed per-pixel information including location, brightness temperatures, fire radiative power, and detection confidence for both day and night over land and water.

Use Cases

• Monitoring global wildfire activity and hotspots using latitude, longitude, and detection confidence columns.
• Estimating fire intensity and energy output for emission modeling via the fire radiative power (FRP) feature.
• Analyzing land surface thermal properties using pixel and background brightness temperatures for bands M13 and M15.
• Distinguishing fire types and contexts (e.g., gas flares over water) using the land pixel flag and adjacent water/cloud pixel counts.
• Assessing algorithm reliability and local conditions for each detection using background statistics like mean absolute deviation and valid pixel count.

Strengths

• Provides high-resolution 750m fire detection, offering finer detail than the legacy 1 km MODIS product.
• Includes detailed per-pixel contextual data (e.g., background brightness temperature statistics, adjacent cloud/water counts) supporting robust analysis.
• Enables continuous day and nighttime monitoring, critical for tracking fire progression across all hours.

Limitations

• Specific row counts, total dataset size, and exact column names are not provided by any source platform.
• Conflicting algorithm references exist: some sources cite the generic 'MODIS Fire algorithm', while others specify the 'MODIS C6 Fire algorithm'.
• License information is inconsistently reported as 'other-license-specified' on Data.gov but is null on NASA Earthdata.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Suomi NPP satellite with VIIRS sensor.

Collection Method

Algorithmic processing of Level-1B moderate-resolution reflective (M7) and emissive (M13, M15) bands using contextual and absolute brightness temperature threshold tests.

Time Range

Near-real-time (NRT) with 6-minute swath data; specific start date not provided.

Freshness

2026-03-12 20:10:43.306668

Geography

Global coverage over land and water surfaces.