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Description
The Terra and Aqua combined MCD64A1 Version 6.1 Burned Area data product is a monthly, global gridded 500 meter (m) product containing per-pixel burned-area and quality information. The MCD64A1 burned-area mapping approach employs 500 m Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Surface Reflectance imagery coupled with 1 kilometer (km) MODIS active fire observations. The algorithm uses a burn sensitive Vegetation Index (VI) to create dynamic thresholds that are applied to the composite data. The VI is derived from MODIS shortwave infrared atmospherically corrected surface reflectance bands 5 and 7 with a measure of temporal texture. The algorithm identifies the date of burn for the 500 m grid cells within each individual MODIS tile. The date is encoded in a single data layer as the ordinal day of the calendar year on which the burn occurred with values assigned to unburned land pixels and additional special values reserved for missing data and water grid cells.
The data layers provided in the MCD64A1 product include Burn Date, Burn Data Uncertainty, Quality Assurance, along with First Day and Last Day of reliable change detection of the year.
The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6.1 Burned Area data products: (1) Version 6.1 Level-1B (L1B) products have been improved by undergoing various calibration changes that include: changes to the response-versus-scan angle (RVS) approach that affects reflectance bands for Aqua and Terra MODIS, corrections to adjust for the optical crosstalk in Terra MODIS infrared (IR) bands, and corrections to the Terra MODIS forward look-up table (LUT) update for the period 2012 – 2017, and (2) A polarization correction has been applied to the L1B Reflective Solar Bands (RSB).
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC)
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MODIS Adaptive Processing System, Terrestrial Information Systems Laboratory, Earth Sciences Division, Science and Exploration Directorate, Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA (NASA/GSFC/SED/ESD/TISL/MODAPS)
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.
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Giglio, L., Justice, C., Boschetti, L., & Roy, D. (2021). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Burned Area Monthly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061 [Dataset]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD64A1.061 Date Accessed: 2026-07-06
Giglio, L., Justice, C., Boschetti, L., & Roy, D. (2021). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Burned Area Monthly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061 [Dataset]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD64A1.061 Date Accessed: 2026-07-06
Giglio, Louis, et al. “MODIS/Terra+Aqua Burned Area Monthly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061.” NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center, 2021, https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD64A1.061. Date Accessed: 2026-07-06
File Naming Convention
MCD64A1.A2025152.h06v03.061.2025220161136.hdf
The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MCD64A1) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2025152), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h06v03), the Version of the data collection (061), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2025220161136), and the Data Format (hdf).
This tutorial shows how Worldview, MODIS, and VIIRS imagery can be combined with active fire data to identify areas affected by deposits of charcoal and ash and by removal or alteration of vegetation structure.
This tutorial shows how using ArcGIS Pro, MODIS Bands 7-2-1 and VIIRS M11-I2-I1 Corrected Reflectance Imagery can be viewed in combination with the active fire data to identify fire-affected areas that are characterized by deposits of charcoal and ash, removal of vegetation and/or alteration of vegetation structure.
Descals, Adria, Gaveau, David L. A., Verger, Aleixandre, Sheil, Douglas, Naito, Daisuke, Penuelas, Josep
Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity
