Fires smaller than the 750 meter resolution of VIIRS Moderate (M) bands can be detected. Validation of the VIIRS-AF product and estimates of minimum detectable fire size and temperature is ongoing. Several factors may affect the ability to detect fire activity, including timing of fire activity at the time of satellite overpass; cloud cover, heavy smoke and other atmospheric obscurations above the fire; satellite view angle or the location of the fire on the swath of imagery collected by satellite; local land cover heterogeneity, etc.
1) Process raw VIIRS telemetry data (RDRs) to generate a series of level 2 (EDR) science products in HDF4 format using IPOPP, including VIIRS-AF active fire data.
2) Active fire locations and attribute are extracted from level 2/EDR VIIRS-AF HDFs to ASCII output and compiled into daily GIS layers.
3) VIIRS-AF active fire detection GIS datasets are transformed from a WGS84 datum to NAD83 datum.
It is the responsibility of the data end user to apply the data appropriately and consistently within the limitations of geospatial data of these scale and accuracy. Using the data for other than their intended purpose may yield inaccurate or misleading results. The USDA Forest Service gives no warranty, expressed or implied, as to the accuracy, reliability, or completeness of these data. It is strongly recommended that these data are directly acquired from authoritative sources and not indirectly through secondary sources which may have changed the data in some way. Although these data have been processed successfully on a computer system at the USDA Forest Service, no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the utility of the data on another system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty. This disclaimer applies both to individual use of the data and aggregate use with other data.
The USDA Forest Service reserves the right to correct, update or modify this data and related materials without notification.