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Full catalog/VJ114IMGTDL_NRT
VJ114IMGTDL_NRT·v2·dataset

Where fires are burning right now (NOAA-20, 375 m)

VIIRS (NOAA-20/JPSS-1) I Band 375 m Active Fire Product NRT (Vector data)
biosphere NASA LANCEMODIS Level 2 Text FileShapefileKMLWMS
In plain English

What it measures. Point locations of active fires, each marking a detection at about 375 m detail, which is finer than older 1 km products. It flags where fires are but does not estimate fire size or intensity within each pixel.

How it's made. Generated in near-real-time from the VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite, delivered as map-ready vector files (text, shapefile, KML, web map).

How & where you'd use it. Well suited to fire management and near-real-time alert systems, especially for spotting smaller fires and mapping the edges of large ones more precisely.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS › FIRE ECOLOGY › FIRE DYNAMICSLAND SURFACE › SURFACE RADIATIVE PROPERTIESLAND SURFACE › SURFACE THERMAL PROPERTIES › LAND SURFACE TEMPERATURE

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2024-10-01 → ongoing
  • Measured byNOAA-20 (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 2
  • Spatial extent-180, -80, 180, 80
  • FormatsText File, Shapefile, KML, WMS
  • StatusACTIVE

What you can do with it

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

Near real-time (NRT) NOAA-20 (formally JPSS-1) Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Active Fire detection product is based on the instrument's 375 m nominal resolution data. Compared to other coarser resolution (≥1km) satellite fire detection products, the improved 375 m data provide greater response over fires of relatively small areas, as well as improved mapping of large fire perimeters. Consequently, the data are well suited for use in support of fire management (e.g., near real-time alert systems), as well as other science applications requiring improved fire mapping fidelity. The 375 m product complements the baseline Suomi NPP/VIIRS 750 m active fire detection and characterization data, which was originally designed to provide continuity to the existing 1 km Earth Observing System Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (EOS/MODIS) active fire data record. Due to frequent data saturation issues, the current 375 m fire product provides detection information only with no sub-pixel fire characterization. VJ114IMGTDL_NRT are available in the following formats: TXT, SHP, KML, and WMS. These data are also provided through the LANCE FIRMS Fire Email Alerts. Please note only the TXT and SHP files contain all the attributes.

Get the data

vj114imgtdl_nrt_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VJ114IMGTDL_NRT",
    version="2",
    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 LANCEMODIS
Browsing CMR needs no login. Downloading or streaming bytes needs a free Earthdata Login + the earthaccess package.