Burn Scar - Corrected Reflectance (VIIRS / NOAA-20)

This visualization represents a "false color" band combination (M11-I2-I1) of data continuously collected by the VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite and is useful for distinguishing burn scars from naturally low vegetation or bare soil.

Visualization Overview
This visualization represents a "false color" band combination (Red = M11, Green = I2, Blue = I1) of data collected by the VIIRS instrument on NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1) satellite, which was renamed to NOAA-20 once on orbit. The imagery is most useful for distinguishing burn scars from naturally low vegetation or bare soil and enhancing floods.  At its highest resolution, this visualization represents the underlying data scaled to a resolution of 250m per pixel at the equator.
The VIIRS Corrected Reflectance product retains visible aerosols for a natural-looking visualization, though gross atmospheric effects (e.g. Rayleigh scattering) have been removed. The following guidelines will aid in understanding this visualization.  See here for additional information on how this "false color" band combination highlights these physical characteristics of the Earth.
  • Vegetation will appear bright green.
  • Naturally bare soil, like a desert, will often appear to have a pinkish tinge.
  • Burned areas (a.k.a. "burn scars") will appear as deep or bright red, depending on the type of vegetation burned, the amount of residue, or the completeness of the burn.
  • Liquid water on the ground will appear dark blue while ice and snow will appear as bright turquoise.
  • Clouds lower to the ground will appear white while high, and cold, clouds will appear turquoise.
Multi-Spectral Bands
The following table lists the VIIRS bands that are utilized to create this visualization.  See here for a full description of all VIIRS bands. BandDescriptionWavelength (µm)Resolution (m)I1Visible / Reflective (Red)
0.60 - 0.68 375
I2Near IR (Green)0.85 - 0.88
375
M11Shortwave IR
2.23 - 2.28
750
Temporal Coverage By default, this layer will display the imagery currently available for today’s date.  This imagery is a "daily composite" that is assembled from hundreds of individual data files.  When viewing imagery for “today,” you may notice that only a portion of the map has imagery.  This is because the visualization is continually updated as the satellite collects more data.  To view imagery over time, you can update the layer properties to enable time animation and configure time settings.  Currently, this layer is available from present back to April 25th, 2020.  In the coming months, this will be extended to the start of the mission (November 18th, 2017).
NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), NASA Worldview, & NASA LANCE
This visualization is provided through the NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), which are a set of standard services to deliver global, full-resolution satellite imagery for hundreds of NASA Earth science datasets and science parameters.  Through its services, and the NASA Worldview client, GIBS enables interactive exploration of NASA's Earth imagery for a broad range of users.  The data and imagery are generated within 3 hours of acquisition through the NASA LANCE capability.
Esri and NASA Collaborative Services
This visualization is made available through an ArcGIS image service hosted on Esri servers and facilitates access to a NASA GIBS service endpoint. For each image service request, the Esri server issues multiple requests to the GIBS service, processes and assembles the responses, and returns a proper mosaic image to the user.  Processing occurs on-the-fly for each and every request to ensure that any update to the GIBS imagery is immediately available to the user.  As such, availability of this visualization is dependent on both the Esri and the NASA GIBS services.

Datasets available for download

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated March 24, 2026, 21:07 (UTC)
Created March 24, 2026, 21:07 (UTC)
Domain / Topic
Domain or topic of the dataset being cataloged.
Title
Title for the Dataset.
Burn Scar - Corrected Reflectance (VIIRS / NOAA-20)
Description
A description of the dataset.

This visualization represents a "false color" band combination (M11-I2-I1) of data continuously collected by the VIIRS instrument on the NOAA-20 satellite and is useful for distinguishing burn scars from naturally low vegetation or bare soil.

Visualization Overview
This visualization represents a "false color" band combination (Red = M11, Green = I2, Blue = I1) of data collected by the VIIRS instrument on NOAA’s Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS-1) satellite, which was renamed to NOAA-20 once on orbit. The imagery is most useful for distinguishing burn scars from naturally low vegetation or bare soil and enhancing floods.  At its highest resolution, this visualization represents the underlying data scaled to a resolution of 250m per pixel at the equator.
The VIIRS Corrected Reflectance product retains visible aerosols for a natural-looking visualization, though gross atmospheric effects (e.g. Rayleigh scattering) have been removed. The following guidelines will aid in understanding this visualization.  See here for additional information on how this "false color" band combination highlights these physical characteristics of the Earth.
  • Vegetation will appear bright green.
  • Naturally bare soil, like a desert, will often appear to have a pinkish tinge.
  • Burned areas (a.k.a. "burn scars") will appear as deep or bright red, depending on the type of vegetation burned, the amount of residue, or the completeness of the burn.
  • Liquid water on the ground will appear dark blue while ice and snow will appear as bright turquoise.
  • Clouds lower to the ground will appear white while high, and cold, clouds will appear turquoise.
Multi-Spectral Bands
The following table lists the VIIRS bands that are utilized to create this visualization.  See here for a full description of all VIIRS bands. BandDescriptionWavelength (µm)Resolution (m)I1Visible / Reflective (Red)
0.60 - 0.68 375
I2Near IR (Green)0.85 - 0.88
375
M11Shortwave IR
2.23 - 2.28
750
Temporal Coverage By default, this layer will display the imagery currently available for today’s date.  This imagery is a "daily composite" that is assembled from hundreds of individual data files.  When viewing imagery for “today,” you may notice that only a portion of the map has imagery.  This is because the visualization is continually updated as the satellite collects more data.  To view imagery over time, you can update the layer properties to enable time animation and configure time settings.  Currently, this layer is available from present back to April 25th, 2020.  In the coming months, this will be extended to the start of the mission (November 18th, 2017).
NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), NASA Worldview, & NASA LANCE
This visualization is provided through the NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS), which are a set of standard services to deliver global, full-resolution satellite imagery for hundreds of NASA Earth science datasets and science parameters.  Through its services, and the NASA Worldview client, GIBS enables interactive exploration of NASA's Earth imagery for a broad range of users.  The data and imagery are generated within 3 hours of acquisition through the NASA LANCE capability.
Esri and NASA Collaborative Services
This visualization is made available through an ArcGIS image service hosted on Esri servers and facilitates access to a NASA GIBS service endpoint. For each image service request, the Esri server issues multiple requests to the GIBS service, processes and assembles the responses, and returns a proper mosaic image to the user.  Processing occurs on-the-fly for each and every request to ensure that any update to the GIBS imagery is immediately available to the user.  As such, availability of this visualization is dependent on both the Esri and the NASA GIBS services.
Tags / Keywords
Keywords/tags categorizing the dataset.
Format (CSV, XLS, TXT, PDF, etc)
File format of the dataset.
Dataset Size
Dataset size in megabytes.
0.06
Metadata Identifier
Metadata identifier – can be used as the unique identifier for catalogue entry
706f312ecc13497e917ff72792276e8b
Published Date
Published date of the dataset.
2020-12-10
Time Period Data Span (start date)
Start date of the data in the dataset.
Time Period Data Span (end date)
End date of time data in the dataset.
GeoSpatial Area Data Span
A spatial region or named place the dataset covers.
Field Value
Access category
Type of access granted for the dataset (open, closed, service, etc).
public
License
License used to access the dataset.
NASA Earth Science Data and Information Policy This service is provided by NASA’s Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center. To acknowledge the use of the dataset, use the citation listed under Credits (Attribution). To acknowledge the use of the GES DISC Enterprise portal, include the following statement:“Visualizations used in this [study/paper/presentation] were produced with the [service used], developed and maintained by the NASA GES DISC.
Limits on use
Limits on use of data.
Location
Location of the dataset.
https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/NASA::burn-scar-corrected-reflectance-viirs-noaa-20
Data Service
Data service for accessing a dataset.
Owner
Owner of the dataset.
NASA_Earthdata
Contact Point
Who to contact regarding access?
NASA ArcGIS Online
Contact Point Email
The email to contact regarding access?
[email protected]
Publisher
Publisher of the dataset.
NASA ArcGIS Online
Publisher Email
Email of the publisher.
Author
Author of the dataset.
NASA_Earthdata
Author Email
Email of the author.
Accessed At
Date the data and metadata was accessed.
2021-06-14
Field Value
Identifier
Unique identifier for the dataset.
706f312ecc13497e917ff72792276e8b
Language
Language(s) of the dataset
English
Link to dataset description
A URL to an external document describing the dataset.
https://climate.esri.ca/datasets/NASA::burn-scar-corrected-reflectance-viirs-noaa-20
Persistent Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent identifier.
Globally Unique Identifier
Data is identified by a persistent and globally unique identifier.
Contains data about individuals
Does the data hold data about individuals?
Contains data about identifiable individuals
Does the data hold identifiable data about individual?
Contains Indigenous Data
Does the data hold data about Indigenous communities?
Portal Type
Platform type of the source portal.
Field Value
Version
Version of the datatset
None
Source
Source of the dataset.
None
Version notes
Version notes about the dataset.
Is version of another dataset
Link to dataset that it is a version of.
Other versions
Link to datasets that are versions of it.
Provenance Text
Provenance Text of the data.
NASA Global Imagery Browse Services (GIBS)
Provenance URL
Provenance URL of the data.
Temporal resolution
Describes how granular the date/time data in the dataset is.
GeoSpatial resolution in meters
Describes how granular (in meters) geospatial data is in the dataset.
GeoSpatial resolution (in regions)
Describes how granular (in regions) geospatial data is in the dataset.
Field Value
Indigenous Community Permission
Who holds the Indigenous Community Permission. Who to contact regarding access to a dataset that has data about Indigenous communities.
Community Permission
Community permission (who gave permission).
The Indigenous communities the dataset is about
Indigenous communities from which data is derived.
Field Value
Number of data rows
If tabular dataset, total number of rows.
21915
Number of data columns
If tabular dataset, total number of unique columns.
16
Number of data cells
If tabular dataset, total number of cells with data.
350640
Number of data relations
If RDF dataset, total number of triples.
Number of entities
If RDF dataset, total number of entities.
Number of data properties
If RDF dataset, total number of unique properties used by the triples.
Data quality
Describes the quality of the data in the dataset.
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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