Satellite (VIIRS) Thermal Hotspots and Fire Activity
Thermal activity detected by the VIIRS sensors on the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 satellites during the last 7 days.
This app is part of Indicators of the Planet. Please see https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/indicators
This layer presents detectable thermal activity from VIIRS satellites for the last 7 days. VIIRS Thermal Hotspots and Fire Activity is a product of NASA’s Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) Earth Observation Data, part of NASA's Earth Science Data.Source: NASA LANCE - VNP14IMG_NRT active fire detection - WorldScale/Resolution: 375-meterUpdate Frequency: Hourly using the aggregated live feed methodologyArea Covered: WorldWhat can I do with this layer?This layer represents the most frequently updated and most detailed global remotely sensed wildfire information. Detection attributes include time, location, and intensity. It can be used to track the location of fires from the recent past, a few hours up to seven days behind real time. This layer also shows the location of wildfire over the past 7 days as a time-enabled service so that the progress of fires over that timeframe can be reproduced as an animation.The VIIRS thermal activity layer can be used to visualize and assess wildfires worldwide. However, it should be noted that this dataset contains many “false positives” (e.g., oil/natural gas wells or volcanoes) since the satellite will detect any large thermal signal.Fire points in this service are generally available within 3 1/4 hours after detection by a VIIRS device. LANCE estimates availability at around 3 hours after detection, and esri livefeeds updates this feature layer every 15 minutes from LANCE.Even though these data display as point features, each point in fact represents a pixel that is = 375 m high and wide. A point feature means somewhere in this pixel at least one hot spot was detected which may be a fire.VIIRS is a scanning radiometer device aboard the Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 satellites that collects imagery and radiometric measurements of the land, atmosphere, cryosphere, and oceans in several visible and infrared bands. The VIIRS Thermal Hotspots and Fire Activity layer is a livefeed from a subset of the overall VIIRS imagery, in particular from NASA's VNP14IMG_NRT active fire detection product. The downloads are automatically downloaded from LANCE, NASA's near real time data and imagery site, every 15 minutes.The 375-m data complements the 1-km Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Thermal Hotspots and Fire Activity layer; they both show good agreement in hotspot detection but the improved spatial resolution of the 375 m data provides a greater response over fires of relatively small areas and provides improved mapping of large fire perimeters.Attribute informationLatitude and Longitude: The center point location of the 375 m (approximately) pixel flagged as containing one or more fires/hotspots.Satellite: Whether the detection was picked up by the Suomi NPP satellite (N) or NOAA-20 satellite (1). For best results, use the virtual field WhichSatellite, redefined by an arcade expression, that gives the complete satellite name.Confidence: The detection confidence is a quality flag of the individual hotspot/active fire pixel. This value is based on a collection of intermediate algorithm quantities used in the detection process. It is intended to help users gauge the quality of individual hotspot/fire pixels. Confidence values are set to low, nominal and high. Low confidence daytime fire pixels are typically associated with areas of sun glint and lower relative temperature anomaly (15K) in the mid-infrared channel I4. Nominal confidence pixels are those free of potential sun glint contamination during the day and marked by strong (15K) temperature anomaly in either day or nighttime data. High confidence fire pixels are associated with day or nighttime saturated pixels.Please note: Low confidence nighttime pixels occur only over the geographic area extending from 11 deg E to 110 deg W and 7 deg N to 55 deg S. This area describes the region of influence of the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly which can cause spurious brightness temperatures in the mid-infrared channel I4 leading to potential false positive alarms. These have been removed from the NRT data distributed by FIRMS.FRP: Fire Radiative Power. Depicts the pixel-integrated fire radiative power in MW (MegaWatts). FRP provides information on the measured radiant heat output of detected fires. The amount of radiant heat energy liberated per unit time (the Fire Radiative Power) is thought to be related to the rate at which fuel is being consumed (Wooster et. al. (2005)).DayNight: D = Daytime fire, N = Nighttime fireNote about near real time data:Near real time data is not checked thoroughly before it's posted on LANCE or downloaded and posted to the Living Atlas. NASA's goal is to get vital fire information to its customers within three hours of observation time. However, the data is screened by a confidence algorithm which seeks to help users gauge the quality of individual hotspot/fire points. Low confidence daytime fire pixels are typically associated with areas of sun glint and lower relative temperature anomaly (15K) in the mid-infrared channel I4. Medium confidence pixels are those free of potential sun glint contamination during the day and marked by strong (15K) temperature anomaly in either day or nighttime data. High confidence fire pixels are associated with day or nighttime saturated pixels.This layer is provided for informational purposes and is not monitored 24/7 for accuracy and currency.
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Additional Info
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| Last Updated | March 24, 2026, 21:07 (UTC) |
| Created | March 24, 2026, 21:07 (UTC) |
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Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
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Title
Title for the Dataset.
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Satellite (VIIRS) Thermal Hotspots and Fire Activity |
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Description
A description of the dataset.
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Thermal activity detected by the VIIRS sensors on the NOAA/NASA Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 satellites during the last 7 days. This app is part of Indicators of the Planet. Please see https://livingatlas.arcgis.com/indicators
This layer presents detectable thermal activity from VIIRS satellites for the last 7 days. VIIRS Thermal Hotspots and Fire Activity is a product of NASA’s Land, Atmosphere Near real-time Capability for EOS (LANCE) Earth Observation Data, part of NASA's Earth Science Data.Source: NASA LANCE - VNP14IMG_NRT active fire detection - WorldScale/Resolution: 375-meterUpdate Frequency: Hourly using the aggregated live feed methodologyArea Covered: WorldWhat can I do with this layer?This layer represents the most frequently updated and most detailed global remotely sensed wildfire information. Detection attributes include time, location, and intensity. It can be used to track the location of fires from the recent past, a few hours up to seven days behind real time. This layer also shows the location of wildfire over the past 7 days as a time-enabled service so that the progress of fires over that timeframe can be reproduced as an animation.The VIIRS thermal activity layer can be used to visualize and assess wildfires worldwide. However, it should be noted that this dataset contains many “false positives” (e.g., oil/natural gas wells or volcanoes) since the satellite will detect any large thermal signal.Fire points in this service are generally available within 3 1/4 hours after detection by a VIIRS device. LANCE estimates availability at around 3 hours after detection, and esri livefeeds updates this feature layer every 15 minutes from LANCE.Even though these data display as point features, each point in fact represents a pixel that is = 375 m high and wide. A point feature means somewhere in this pixel at least one hot spot was detected which may be a fire.VIIRS is a scanning radiometer device aboard the Suomi NPP and NOAA-20 satellites that collects imagery and radiometric measurements of the land, atmosphere, cryosphere, and oceans in several visible and infrared bands. The VIIRS Thermal Hotspots and Fire Activity layer is a livefeed from a subset of the overall VIIRS imagery, in particular from NASA's VNP14IMG_NRT active fire detection product. The downloads are automatically downloaded from LANCE, NASA's near real time data and imagery site, every 15 minutes.The 375-m data complements the 1-km Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Thermal Hotspots and Fire Activity layer; they both show good agreement in hotspot detection but the improved spatial resolution of the 375 m data provides a greater response over fires of relatively small areas and provides improved mapping of large fire perimeters.Attribute informationLatitude and Longitude: The center point location of the 375 m (approximately) pixel flagged as containing one or more fires/hotspots.Satellite: Whether the detection was picked up by the Suomi NPP satellite (N) or NOAA-20 satellite (1). For best results, use the virtual field WhichSatellite, redefined by an arcade expression, that gives the complete satellite name.Confidence: The detection confidence is a quality flag of the individual hotspot/active fire pixel. This value is based on a collection of intermediate algorithm quantities used in the detection process. It is intended to help users gauge the quality of individual hotspot/fire pixels. Confidence values are set to low, nominal and high. Low confidence daytime fire pixels are typically associated with areas of sun glint and lower relative temperature anomaly (15K) in the mid-infrared channel I4. Nominal confidence pixels are those free of potential sun glint contamination during the day and marked by strong (15K) temperature anomaly in either day or nighttime data. High confidence fire pixels are associated with day or nighttime saturated pixels.Please note: Low confidence nighttime pixels occur only over the geographic area extending from 11 deg E to 110 deg W and 7 deg N to 55 deg S. This area describes the region of influence of the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly which can cause spurious brightness temperatures in the mid-infrared channel I4 leading to potential false positive alarms. These have been removed from the NRT data distributed by FIRMS.FRP: Fire Radiative Power. Depicts the pixel-integrated fire radiative power in MW (MegaWatts). FRP provides information on the measured radiant heat output of detected fires. The amount of radiant heat energy liberated per unit time (the Fire Radiative Power) is thought to be related to the rate at which fuel is being consumed (Wooster et. al. (2005)).DayNight: D = Daytime fire, N = Nighttime fireNote about near real time data:Near real time data is not checked thoroughly before it's posted on LANCE or downloaded and posted to the Living Atlas. NASA's goal is to get vital fire information to its customers within three hours of observation time. However, the data is screened by a confidence algorithm which seeks to help users gauge the quality of individual hotspot/fire points. Low confidence daytime fire pixels are typically associated with areas of sun glint and lower relative temperature anomaly (15K) in the mid-infrared channel I4. Medium confidence pixels are those free of potential sun glint contamination during the day and marked by strong (15K) temperature anomaly in either day or nighttime data. High confidence fire pixels are associated with day or nighttime saturated pixels.This layer is provided for informational purposes and is not monitored 24/7 for accuracy and currency.
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Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
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Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
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Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
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2.3 |
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Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
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Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
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2020-07-10 |
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Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
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Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
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Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
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public |
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License
License used to access the dataset.
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This work is licensed under the Esri Master License Agreement. View Summary | View Terms of Use |
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Limits on use
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Location
Location of the dataset.
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https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/arcgis-content::satellite-viirs-thermal-hotspots-and-fire-activity-2 |
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Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
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Owner
Owner of the dataset.
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EMeriam |
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Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
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ArcGIS Living Atlas Team |
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Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
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Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
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ArcGIS Living Atlas Team |
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Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
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Author
Author of the dataset.
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EMeriam |
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Author Email
Email of the author.
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Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
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2020-07-14 |
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Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
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b669e48dfc064facb4c57b57e5f4522b |
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Language
Language(s) of the dataset
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English |
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Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
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https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/arcgis-content::satellite-viirs-thermal-hotspots-and-fire-activity-2 |
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Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
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Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
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Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
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Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
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Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
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Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
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Version
Version of the datatset
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None |
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Source
Source of the dataset.
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None |
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Version notes
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Is version of another dataset
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Other versions
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Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
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ArcGIS Living Atlas Team |
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Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
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Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
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GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
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Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
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Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
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The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
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Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
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Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
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Number of data cells
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Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
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Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
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Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
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Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
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Metric for data quality
A metric used to measure the quality of the data, such as missing values or invalid formats.
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