Full catalog/VNP64A1
VNP64A1·v002·dataset

Where fires burned that month (VIIRS, Suomi-NPP, 500 m)

VIIRS/NPP Burned Area Monthly L4 Global 500m SIN Grid V002
biosphere NASA LPCLOUD Level 4 active HDF-EOS5
In plain English

What it measures. A monthly global map at 500 meter resolution showing which land pixels burned and the exact day each burn happened (numbered 1 to 366 within the year), plus quality information.

How it's made. Produced from VIIRS imagery and active-fire detections on the Suomi-NPP satellite, using an algorithm that spots the lasting changes fire leaves on vegetation.

How & where you'd use it. Used to measure how much area burned and when, supporting wildfire assessment, emissions estimates, and long-term fire records that continue MODIS's earlier burned-area data.

What's measured

BIOSPHERE › ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS › FIRE ECOLOGYBIOSPHERE › ECOLOGICAL DYNAMICS › FIRE ECOLOGY › FIRE OCCURRENCEHUMAN DIMENSIONS › NATURAL HAZARDS › WILDFIRES › BURNED AREA

Coverage & cadence

  • Time span2012-03-01 → ongoing
  • Measured bySuomi-NPP (VIIRS)
  • Processing levelLevel 4
  • Spatial extent-180, -90, 180, 90
  • FormatsHDF-EOS5
  • 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 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](https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/knownissue?sensor=VIIRS).

Get the data

vnp64a1_access.py
import earthaccess
earthaccess.login(strategy="netrc")          # free Earthdata Login

results = earthaccess.search_data(
    short_name="VNP64A1",
    version="002",
    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.