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Full catalog/Methane_Flaring_Sites_VIIRS_1874
Methane_Flaring_Sites_VIIRS_1874·v1·dataset

Where gas flares burn worldwide, from night infrared (VIIRS)

Global Gas Flare Survey by Infrared Imaging, VIIRS Nightfire, 2012-2019
land NASA ORNL_CLOUD Level 2 multiple
In plain English

What it measures. Yearly maps of where gas flares burned around the world from 2012 to 2019, including each flare's location, temperature, and an estimate of how much gas it burned.

How it's made. Built from nighttime infrared heat signals detected by the VIIRS sensor on the Suomi-NPP satellite, with flares separated from wildfires by their temperature and persistence.

How & where you'd use it. Valuable for measuring global gas flaring and its environmental impact, and for viewing flare locations (including in Google Earth via included map files).

What's measured

HUMAN DIMENSIONS › ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS › GAS FLARINGHUMAN DIMENSIONS › NATURAL HAZARDS › HEATATMOSPHERE › ATMOSPHERIC CHEMISTRY › CARBON AND HYDROCARBON COMPOUNDS › METHANE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-01-01 → 2019-12-31
  • Measured bySuomi-NPP (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • Formatsmultiple
  • StatusCOMPLETE

What you can do with it

  • Track deforestation, fire scars and land-cover change
  • Monitor crop and vegetation health (NDVI/EVI)
  • Map how built-up vs. green an area is over time
Official description

This dataset contains annual global flare site surveys from 2012-2019 derived from Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) on the Suomi National Polar Partnership (SNPP) satellite. Gas flaring sites were identified from heat anomalies first estimated by the VIIRS Nightfire (VNF) algorithm from which high-temperature biomass burning and low-temperature gas flaring were separated based on temperature and persistence. Nightly observations for each flare site were drawn to determine their activity in the given calendar year. Data include flare location, temperature, and estimated flared gas volume; flaring data summarized by country; and KMZ files for viewing flaring locations in Google Earth. This dataset is valuable for measuring the current status of global gas flaring, which can have significant environmental impacts.

Get the data

methane_flaring_sites_viirs_1874_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="Methane_Flaring_Sites_VIIRS_1874",
    version="1",
    bounding_box=(-122.5, 37.2, -121.8, 37.9),  # your area (W,S,E,N)
    temporal=("2024-01-01", "2024-12-31"),       # your dates
)
files = earthaccess.open(results)   # stream straight from ORNL_CLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.