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Description

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Active Fires (VJ114IMG) Version 2 product is produced in 6-minute temporal satellite increments (swaths) at 375 meter resolution from the VIIRS sensor aboard the NOAA-20 satellite. This product is designed after the Terra and Aqua Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Thermal Anomalies and Fire data products to promote the continuity of the Earth Observation System (EOS) mission. This data product can enable users to understand the location and intensity of fire events as well as thermal anomalies.

The VJ114IMG product includes 26 science dataset layers to analyze key factors in fire detection, including atmospheric conditions (e.g., radiance, solar zenith angle, brightness temperature) and fuel type for the event. The fire mask layer in the VJ114IMG product is the primary layer and can be used to identify fires and other thermal anomalies such as volcanoes.

Each swath of data is approximately 3,060 kilometers along track (long) and 3,060 kilometers across track (wide). The VJ114IMG product is also used to generate higher-level fire data products.

Use of the VJ103MODLL data product is required to apply accurate geolocation information to the VNP14IMG Science Datasets (SDS).

Known Issues

Improvements/Changes from Previous Version

  • Improved calibration algorithm and coefficients for entire NOAA-20 mission.
  • Improved geolocation accuracy and applied updates to fix outliers around maneuver periods.
  • Corrected the aerosol quantity flag (low, average, high) mainly over brighter surfaces in the mid- to high-latitudes such as desert and tropical vegetation areas. This has an impact on the retrieval of other downstream data products such as VJ113 Vegetation Indices and VJ143 Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)/Albedo.
  • Improved cloud mask input product for corrections along coastlines and artifacts from use of coarse resolution climatology data.
  • Replaced the land/water mask input product with the eight-class land/water mask from the VJ103 geolocation product that better aligns with MODIS.
  • More details can be found in this VIIRS Land V2 Changes document.

Product Summary

Platforms
NOAA-20
Instruments
VIIRS
Spatial Extent
N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180
Spatial Resolution
375 Meters x 375 Meters
Geographic Region
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2018-01-01 to Present
Temporal Resolution
1 Day
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
Land Science Investigator-led Processing System, Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Sciences and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/LandSIPS)
Concept ID
c2734197957-lpcloud
Data State
ACTIVE
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated

Citation

Citation is critically important for dataset documentation and discovery. This dataset is openly shared, without restriction, in accordance with the EOSDIS Data Use and Citation Guidance.

Copy Citation

Giglio, L. (2024). VIIRS/JPSS1 Active Fires 6-Min L2 Swath 375m V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VJ114IMG.002 Date Accessed: 2025-06-18

Data Center Citation

Louis Giglio. 2024. VIIRS/NPP Active Fires 6-Min L2 Swath 375m V002. Sioux Falls, South Dakota, USA: NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VJ114IMG.002.

Documents

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD) The ATBD provides physical theory and mathematical procedures for the calculations used to produce the data products.
GENERAL DOCUMENTATION The File Specification provides a description of the product file including Scientific Data Sets and their attributes.
PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT The LDOPE Land Product Quality Assessment website provides known issues, maneuvers, and product quality of the land products.
SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION Validation at stage 1 has been achieved for the VIIRS Active Fire product suite.
SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION Further details regarding VIIRS product validation and maturity status are available from VIIRS Land Product Quality Assessment site.

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