Data Set Characteristics
Area = ~ 10° x 10° lat/long
Image Dimensions = 2 (1200X1200 row/column)
Average File Size = 3 MB
Resolution = 1 kilometer
Projection = Sinusoidal
Data Type Fire Mask = 8-bit unsigned integer
Data Format = HDF-EOS
Science Data Sets (SDSs) = 2
Pixel Value
Color
Meaning
0
Black
not processed (missing input data)
2
Dk Brown
not processed (other reason)
3
Dk Blue
water
4
Lt Blue
cloud
5
Green
no fire
6
Purple
unknown
7
Yellow
low-confidence fire
8
Yellow
nominal-confidence fire
9
Red
high-confidence fire
This example of MOD14A2 displays data from December 2 - 10, 2000 along the Gulf of Guinea near eastern Africa leading up the Niger River. Small yellow and red dots represent fires in the area.
Product Description
The MODerate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Thermal Anomalies/Fire products detect fire locations using 4- and 11-micrometer brightness temperatures. The detection strategy is based on absolute detection, if the fire is strong enough, and on detection relative to the background to account for variability of the surface temperature and reflection by sunlight. Numerous tests are employed to reject typical false alarm sources such as sun glint and unmasked coastline. Because the Terra MODIS instrument acquires data twice daily (10:30 am and 10:30 pm), as does the Aqua MODIS (2:30 pm and 2:30 am), four daily MODIS observations area available to contribute to global fire monitoring.
The MODIS/Terra Thermal Anomalies/Fire 8-Day L3 Global 1km SIN Grid product, MOD14A2, is a gridded 1km composite of the most confident fire pixel detected in each grid cell over an eight-day interval.
The MOD14A2 image above has been pseudo-colored to display fire data composited between December 5-12, 2000. This scene along the Gulf of Guinea near eastern Africa leading up the Niger River depicts low- and nominal-confidence fires as yellow pixels, and high-confidence fires as red pixels.
NOTE: These products are validated, meaning that product uncertainties are well defined over a range of representative conditions. Although there may be later improved versions, these data are ready for use in scientific publications.
LP DAAC User Services
U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)
Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (EROS)
47914 252nd Street
Sioux Falls, SD 57198-0001