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Description

The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Active Fires (VNP14IMG) Version 2 product is produced in 6-minute temporal satellite increments (swaths) at 375 meter resolution from the VIIRS sensor aboard the NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi NPP) satellite. This Level 2 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. Due to its higher spatial resolution, the VNP14IMG active fire product provides greater response over fires of relatively small areas, as well as improved mapping of large fire perimeters in comparison to the VNP14 fire data product.

The VNP14IMG 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 VNP14IMG 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 VNP14IMG product is also used to generate higher-level fire data products.

Use of the (VNP03MODLL) data product is required to apply accurate geolocation information to the VNP14IMG Science Datasets (SDS) / Variables.

Known Issues

Version Description

The following modifications and enhancements were implemented for Suomi NPP Version 2 thermal anomalies data products: (1) Improved calibration algorithm and coefficients for entire Suomi NPP mission, (2) Improved geolocation accuracy and applied updates to fix outliers around maneuver periods, (3) 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 VNP13 Vegetation Indices and VNP43 Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF)/Albedo, (4) Improved cloud mask input product for corrections along coastlines and artifacts from use of coarse resolution climatology data, and (5) Replaced the land/water mask input product with the eight-class land/water mask from the VNP03 geolocation product that better aligns with MODIS. Further details can be found in the VIIRS Land V2 Changes document (https://landweb.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/data/userguide/VIIRS_Land_C2_Cha…).

Product Summary

Platforms
Suomi-NPP
Instruments
VIIRS
Spatial Extent

N: 90 S: -90 E: 180 W: -180

Spatial Resolution
375 Meters x 375 Meters
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2012-01-17 to Present
Temporal Resolution
6 Minute
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
C2734202914-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
1223447
Processing Level
2
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Fire Occurrence ,
Land Surface Temperature

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/NPP Active Fires 6-Min L2 Swath 375m V002 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/VIIRS/VNP14IMG.002 Date Accessed: 2026-02-28

File Naming Convention

VNP14IMG.A2025224.1542.002.2025227210549.nc

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (VNP14IMG) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025224), the Hours and Minutes of Acquisition provided as HHMM (1542), the Version of the data collection (002), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025227210549), and the Data Format (nc).

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT

SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

Publications Citing This Dataset

Variables

The table below lists the variables contained within a single granule for this dataset. Variables often contain observed or derived geophysical measurements collected from a variety of sources, including remote sensing instruments on satellite and airborne platforms, field campaigns, in situ measurements, and model outputs. The terms variable, parameter, scientific data set, layer, and band have been used across NASA’s Earth science disciplines; however, variable is the designated nomenclature in NASA’s Common Metadata Repository (CMR). Variable metadata attributes such as Name, Description, Units, Data Type, Fill Value, Valid Range, and Scale Factor allow users to efficiently process and analyze the data. The full range of attributes may not be applicable to all variables. Additional information on variable attributes is typically available in the data, user guide, and/or other product documentation.

For questions on a specific variable, please use the Earthdata Forum.

Name Description Units Data Type Fill Value Valid Range Scale Factor
algorithm QA Algorithm QA BitField uint32 N/A N/A N/A
fire mask Confidence of Fire Class Flag uint8 N/A 0 to 9 N/A
FP_AdjCloud Number of adjacent cloud pixels N/A uint16 N/A 0 to 8 N/A
FP_AdjWater Number of adjacent water pixels N/A uint16 N/A 0 to 8 N/A
FP_confidence Detection confidence N/A uint8 N/A 7 to 9 N/A
FP_day Day Flag for Fire Pixel N/A uint8 N/A 0 to 1 N/A
FP_latitude Latitude of fire pixel Degree float32 N/A -90 to 90 N/A
FP_longitude Longitude of fire pixel Degree float32 N/A -180 to 180 N/A
FP_MAD_DT Background M13-M15 brightness temperature difference mean absolute deviation, valid range ~ > 0 to 20 Kelvin float32 0 0 to 20 N/A
FP_MAD_T4 Background I04 Brightness Temperature Mean Absolute Deviation of Fire Pixel, valid range ~ > 0 to 20 Kelvin float32 0 0 to 20 N/A
FP_MAD_T5 Background I05 Brightness Temperature Mean Absolute Deviation of Fire Pixel, valid range ~ > 0 to 20 Kelvin float32 0 0 to 20 N/A
FP_MeanDT Mean background brightness temperature difference, valid range ~ -10 to 50 Kelvin float32 0 -10 to 50 N/A
FP_MeanRad13 M13 Background Radiance of Background of Fire Pixel, valid range ~ > 0 to 10 W/m²/sr/μm float32 0 0 to 10 N/A
FP_MeanT4 I04 Brightness Temperature of Background of Fire Pixel, valid range ~ 270 to 340 Kelvin float32 0 270 to 340 N/A
FP_MeanT5 I05 Brightness Temperature of Background of Fire Pixel, valid range ~ 265 to 330 Kelvin float32 0 265 to 330 N/A
FP_power Fire radiative power, valid range ~ > 0 to 1500 Megawatts float32 0 0 to 1500 N/A
FP_Rad13 M13 Radiance for Each Fire Pixel, valid range ~ > 0 to 400 W/m²/sr/μm float32 0 0 to 400 N/A
FP_sample Fire Pixel Sample N/A uint16 N/A 0 to 6399 N/A
FP_SolAzAng Solar Azimuth Angle of Fire Pixel Degree float32 N/A -180 to 180 N/A
FP_SolZenAng Solar Zenith Angle of fire pixel Degree float32 N/A 0 to 180 N/A
FP_T4 I04 Brightness Temperature of Fire Pixel, valid range ~ 208 to 367 Kelvin float32 N/A 208 to 367 N/A
FP_T5 I05 Brightness Temperature of Fire Pixel, valid range ~ 205 to 380 Kelvin float32 N/A 205 to 380 N/A
FP_ViewAzAng Solar Azimuth Angle of Fire Pixel Degree float32 N/A -180 to 180 N/A
FP_ViewZenAng View Zenith Angle of fire pixel Degree float32 N/A 0 to 70 N/A
FP_WinSize Background Window Size N/A uint16 0 10 to 35 N/A
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