Global Burned Areas

The Terra and Aqua combined MCD64A1 Version 6.1 Burned Area data product is a monthly, global gridded 500 meter (m) product containing per-pixel burned-area and quality information. The MCD64A1 burned-area mapping approach employs 500 m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Surface Reflectance imagery coupled with 1 kilometer (km) MODIS active fire observations. The algorithm uses a burn sensitive Vegetation Index (VI) to create dynamic thresholds that are applied to the composite data. The VI is derived from MODIS shortwave infrared atmospherically corrected surface reflectance bands 5 and 7 with a measure of temporal texture. The algorithm identifies the date of burn for the 500 m grid cells within each individual MODIS tile. The date is encoded in a single data layer as the ordinal day of the calendar year on which the burn occurred with values assigned to unburned land pixels and additional special values reserved for missing data and water grid cells. The data layers provided in the MCD64A1 product include Burn Date, Burn Data Uncertainty, Quality Assurance, along with First Day and Last Day of reliable change detection of the year. Known Issues * For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.

Global burned area polygons derived from MODIS satellite imagery, providing information on spatial and temporal attributes of areas affected by fires. Fires are mapped using a semi-automatic procedure. Provided as GeoJSON. Note: the dates reported as Start date and Last update may not correspond to the date of ignition and extinction of the fire.

The delivery of all Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) VIIRS science data products will cease on November 2, 2026 (2026/306). The daily NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Burned Area (VNP64A1) Version 2 data product is a monthly, global gridded 500-meter (m) product containing per-pixel burned area and quality information. The VNP64 burned area mapping approach employs 750 m VIIRS imagery coupled with 750 m VIIRS active fire observations. The hybrid algorithm applies dynamic thresholds to composite imagery generated from a burn-sensitive Vegetation Index (VI) derived from VIIRS shortwave infrared channels M8 and M11, and a measure of temporal texture. VIIRS bands that are both sensitive and insensitive to biomass burning are used to detect changes caused by fire and to differentiate them from other types of change. The mapping algorithm ultimately identifies the date of burn, to the nearest day, for 500 m grid cells within the individual sinusoidal tile being processed. The date is encoded in a single data layer of the output product as the ordinal day of the calendar year on which the burn occurred (range 1–366), with a value of 0 for unburned land pixels and additional values reserved for missing data and water grid cells. The VNP64A1 data product is designed after the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Terra and Aqua combined burned area product to promote the continuity of the Earth Observation System (EOS) mission. The data layers provided in the VNP64A1 product include Burn Date, Burn Date Uncertainty, and Quality Assurance (QA), along with First Day and Last Day of reliable change detection of the year. A low resolution browse is also provided showing the burned date layer with a color map applied in JPEG format. Known Issues * Additional information on known issues is provided in Section 8 of the User Guide and on the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.

The Landsat Burned Area (BA) contains two acquisition-based raster data products that represent burn classification and burn probability.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Thermal Anomalies and Fire MOD14 Version 6.1 product is produced daily in 5-minute temporal satellite increments (swaths) at 1 kilometer (km) spatial resolution. The MOD14 product is used to generate all of the higher level fire products, but can also be used to identify fires and other thermal anomalies, such as volcanoes. Each swath of data is approximately 2,030 kilometers along track (long), and 2,300 kilometers across track (wide). Known Issues * For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.

The Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Thermal Anomalies and Fire 8-Day (MYD14A2) Version 6.1 data are generated at 1 kilometer (km) spatial resolution as a Level 3 product. The MYD14A2 gridded composite contains maximum value of individual fire pixel classes detected during the eight days of acquisition. The Science Dataset (SDS) layers include the fire mask and pixel quality indicators. Known Issues * For complete information about known issues please refer to the MODIS/VIIRS Land Quality Assessment website.