NASA Firms
Displays a world map overlaid with infra-red data from one or more satellites, some, but not all of which may represent heat from fires and explosions.
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Displays a world map overlaid with infra-red data from one or more satellites, some, but not all of which may represent heat from fires and explosions.
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FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System) aims to distribute NRT (Near Real-Time) active fire data, primarily for the purposes of resource management. It can be repurposed for Open Source investigation, particularly around military action and environmental change.
For example, the NASA FIRMS infra-red satellite sensor data has been used for geolocation, verification, war attack monitoring, frontline/troop movement estimates, forest fire monitoring, bushfire monitoring and war frontline tracking, amongst other things.
Location (latitude, longitude) MULTIPLE LOCATION SELECTION IS POSSIBLE
Date
Time
Time Period
Filter Selections: Satellite Name
Filter Intensity Level
These images show the variety of I-R sources which researchers will encounter & need to interpret. (Imagery from NASA's Fire Information for Resource Management System FIRMS )
The NASA FIRMS main data sources are radiometry equipment aboard orbiting satellites including:
MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) aboard the Aqua satellite and the Terra satellite
VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite aboard three satellites: S-NPP, NOAA 20 and NOAA 21 (formally known as JPSS-1 and JPSS-2)).
NASA FIRMS is a very ‘fast’ service - data is usually uploaded within 3 hours of capture.
The different satellites connected to NASA FIRMS have different sensor resolutions, so MODIS carries a coarse sensor where fire is represented in squares of 1km x 1km, whereas VIIRS has a finer sensor where fire is represented in squares of 375m x 375m. Thus more accurate location comes from the finer sensor, i.e. VIIRS.
The size of the fire on the ground may be smaller than the size of the entire pixel in NASA FIRMS which indicates its presence. The location of the fire is within the area covered by the pixel, but it is not necessarily in the centre and it is not possible to determine a more accurate location than this within NASA FIRMS
The ability for the user to select a time period, using a horizontal slider across the bottom of the screen, or a menu calendar, is very powerful for analysis. The radio buttons labelled TODAY, 24 HOURS OR 7 DAYS filter the data according to the length of the time period of data capture.
Metrics such as confidence value and FRP value are assigned to map squares.
Confidence value is a measure of the likelihood of fire, either on a high-nominal-low scale or a 0 to 100 % scale.
Pixel data details displayed for the selected area include location, brightness, scan, track, acquire time, satellite name, confidence, FRP and day/night\
There are a large number of user selection menus available to filter data, configure views, etc., and they are arranged in a hierarchy structure, which can be confusing to navigate:
NASA FIRMS permits multiple location selection for searches
NASA FIRMS data is well-presented and the interface is not difficult to use at basic level. The number of different features which are available, but hidden amongst multiple menus, can be daunting. The difficulty rating reflects this and the challenges in interpreting FIRMS data in a realistic manner.
NASA FIRMS can be used without an account or provision of any data up front. However, for services such as fire alerts, users must provide an email.
Accuracy: Care must be taken in the interpretation of NASA FIRMS data. The satellites involved do not take direct photographs, but rather measure radiation, and the radiation data is used to generate imagery.
FIRMS is usually most valuable when used in conjunction with other tools, often to narrow down satellite imagery searches.
The resolution of FIRMS data, which varies according to the satellite source, means that one or multiple active fires can be contained in one pixel.
FIRMS will likely not register cooler or smaller fires and 100 metres squared is the smallest size of fire which would generally be detected.
FIRMS satellites may not be above an area of interest at the time of interest, so a thermal event can take place without being captured.
NB Algorithms have been adapted to avoid the effects of sun glint causing false alarms over highly reflective surfaces, e.g. metallic rooftops.
Active fire data involves many ethical considerations, since it pertains to a highly destructive force which rapidly changes landscapes and environments and is available for the US and Canada in real-time and within 3 hours for the rest of the world.
Scenarios in which FIRMS data has geopolitical significance are feasible since fire can closely track military front lines in conflict zones.
NASA (North American Space Agency) via: Sentinel Hub and Copernicus Browser
Sophie Tedling
The data from these satellites can be viewed in NASA FIRMS, but is also available as an overlay layer in , and as downloads or alerts in different formats: *.shp, , *.txt and .
The orbits of different satellites can be followed using the app
FRP (Fire Radiative Power) is a measure of the power of the radiation in MegaWatts. The largest fires seen in recent OSINV research have reached around 500MW. FRP depicts the pixel-integrated fire radiative power in megawatts (MW) for both VIIRS and MODIS satellites.
Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer () from the Terra and Aqua platforms
Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite () (375m) from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP), NOAA-20, and NOAA-21 platforms
It is important to cite exact data sources in scientific publications and to be sure the data source used is the most appropriate for the application by referencing and
...as determining burned areas to an acceptable degree of accuracy is not possible due to nontrivial spatial and temporal sampling issues. For some applications, however, acceptable accuracy can be achieved, although the effective area burned per fire pixel is not simply a constant, but rather varies with respect to several different vegetation and fire-related variables. See for more information. See "" Most recently, Harmonized Landsat Sentinel (HLS) false color composite imagery was included in FIRMS and these data can be helpful in estimating burned area (see ).
&#xNAN;(Imagery from NASA FIRMS )
NASA FIRMS data should be acknowledged through the appropriate citation: See
by NASA
Active Fire User Guide (Updated July 2018)
Active Fire User Guide (Updated May 2021)
features examples of analyzing and visualizing fire data using Google Colaboratory (Colab), Jupyter Notebooks, and Python
Bellingcat Website Article:
NASA Earthdata Tutorial:
Volcanoes: There is a separate system for volcanoes and eruptions at which has been validated for volcano detection, unlike MODIS and VIIRS (although they both do detect active volcanoes).
VOLCANIC ERUPTION AREA, ICELAND Q2 2010 Intensity: Max>1000MW
Boundary: Varying Often
Duration: Months
Type: 1 (active volcano)
GRENFELL FIRE AREA, LONDON 14/06/2017
Intensity: Max <10MW Boundary: Relatively static Duration: 2-3 days
Type: 0 (Presumed vegetation fire)
PORT TALBOT STEELYARD, WALES 2010
Intensity: Max=11MW
Boundary: Relatively static Duration: Years
Types: 2 (static land source) & 3 (offshore)
