Full catalog/MOD14
MOD14·v061·dataset

Where fires are burning (Terra, 1 km)

MODIS/Terra Thermal Anomalies/Fire 5-Min L2 Swath 1km V061
biosphere NASA LPCLOUD Level 2 active HDF4
In plain English

What it measures. Where fires and other hot spots are burning on the land, captured in short 5-minute satellite passes at 1 km resolution. It can also flag other heat sources like volcanoes.

How it's made. Generated from the MODIS instrument on the Terra satellite, which detects the heat signature of fires in each raw swath of data.

How & where you'd use it. The foundational fire detection used to build higher-level fire maps, but it can also be used directly to spot wildfires and thermal anomalies.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS › FIRE ECOLOGY › FIRE OCCURRENCELAND SURFACE › SURFACE THERMAL PROPERTIESLAND SURFACE › SURFACE THERMAL PROPERTIES › LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURELAND SURFACE › SURFACE THERMAL PROPERTIES › LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURE › THERMAL ANOMALIES

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2000-02-24 → ongoing
  • Measured byTerra (MODIS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF4
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

  • Map vegetation, forests and biomass
  • Monitor ecosystem productivity and carbon
  • Support habitat and biodiversity studies
Official description

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](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/knownissue?sensor=MODIS&sat=Terra&as=61).

Get the data

mod14_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="MOD14",
    version="061",
    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 LPCLOUD
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.