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Description

The MCD64A1 Version 6 data product was decommissioned on July 31, 2023. Users are encouraged to use the MCD64A1 Version 6.1 data product.

The Terra and Aqua combined MCD64A1 Version 6 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.

Known Issues

  • Known issues are described on the MODIS Land Quality Assessment website and in Section 8 of the User Guide which covers Cropland Burning, the August 2000 and June 2001 Data Outages, and the August 2020 Aqua Outage.

Version Description

The following changes and improvements were implemented for inputs to MODIS Version 6 burned area data products: (1) The product is now generated using an improved version of the MCD64 burned area mapping algorithm (Giglio et al., 2009), i.e., MCD64A1 will be adopted as the standard MODIS burned area product for Collection 6. The MCD45A1 product will not be generated beyond Collection 5.1, (2) The product is generated using Version 6 surface reflectance and active fire input data, (3) General improvement (reduced omission error) in burned area detection, including significantly better detection of small burns, (4) Modest reduction in burn-date temporal uncertainty, (5) Significant reduction in the occurrence of unclassified grid cells due to algorithm changes and refinements in the upstream Version 6 input data, (6) Product coverage expanded from 219 to 268 MODIS tiles, and (7) Expanded per-pixel Quality Assurance (QA) product layer.

Product Summary

Platforms
Terra ,
Aqua
Instruments
MODIS
Spatial Extent

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

Spatial Resolution
500 Meters x 500 Meters
Spatial Reference System(s)
MODIS Sinusoidal Tiling System
Location
GLOBAL
Coordinate System
CARTESIAN
Granule Spatial Representation
GEODETIC
Temporal Extent
2000-11-01 to 2022-12-31
Temporal Resolution
1 Month
Data Partner
Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center (LP DAAC) ,
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)
Concept ID
C2763297163-LPCLOUD
Data State
DEPRECATED
Number of Files/Granules
0
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Fire Ecology ,
Biomass Burning ,
Wildfires ,
Fire Occurrence

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., Justice, C., Boschetti, L., & Roy, D. (2015). MCD64A1 MODIS/Terra+Aqua Burned Area Monthly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V006 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD64A1.006 Date Accessed: 2026-05-20

File Naming Convention

MCD64A1.A2002244.h11v12.006.2017013095459.hdf

The file name begins with the Product Short Name (MCD64A1) followed by the Julian Date of Acquisition formatted as AYYYYDDD (A2002244), the Tile Identifier which is horizontal tile and vertical tile provided as hXXvYY (h11v12), the Version of the data collection (006), the Julian Date and Time of Production designated as YYYYDDDHHMMSS (2017013095459), and the Data Format (hdf).

Documents

Publications Citing This Dataset

Filters
Title Year Author Topic
Fire decline in dry tropical ecosystems enhances decadal land carbon Yin, Yi, Bloom, A. Anthony, Worden, John, Saatchi, Sassan, Yang, Yan, Williams, Mathew, Liu, Junjie, Jiang, Zhe, Worden, Helen, Bowman, Kevin, Frankenberg, Christian, Schimel, David Leaf Area Index (LAI), Fraction Of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fapar), Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Fire dynamics in Mato Grosso State, BrazilThe relative roles of gross primary productivity Rossi, Fernando Saragosa, Santos, Gustavo Andre de Araujo Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Fire foci related to rainfall and biomes of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil Oliveira-Junior, Jose Francisco de, Teodoro, Paulo Eduardo, Silva Junior, Carlos Antonio da, Baio, Fabio Henrique Rojo, Gava, Ricardo, Capristo-Silva, Guilherme Fernando, Gois, Givanildo de, Correia Filho, Washington Luiz Felix, Lima, Mendelson, Santiago, Dimas de Barros, Freitas, Welington Kiffer, Santos, Paulo Jose dos, Costa, Micejane da Silva Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Fire Frequency and Related Land-Use and Land-Cover Changes in Vetrita, Yenni, Cochrane, Mark A. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Fire Occurrence in the Brazilian Savanna Conservation Units and their Buffer Zones Hoffmann, Tania Beatriz, Dutra, Andeise Cerqueira, Shimabukuro, Yosio Edemir, Arai, Egidio, Godinho Cassol, Henrique Luis, Di Girolamo Neto, Cesare, Duarte, Valdete Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Fire regime in Southern Brazil driven by atmospheric variation and vegetation cover de Andrade, Caio F., Delgado, Rafael C., Barbosa, Maria Lucia F., Teodoro, Paulo E., Junior, Carlos A. da Silva, Wanderley, Henderson S., Capristo-Silva, Guilherme F. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Historical legacies and ecological determinants of grass naturalizations Monnet, AnneChristine, Vorontsova, Maria S., Govaerts, Rafael H. A., Svenning, JensChristian, Sandel, Brody Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
How emissions uncertainty influences the distribution and radiative impacts of smoke from fires in North America Carter, Therese S., Heald, Colette L., Jimenez, Jose L., Campuzano-Jost, Pedro, Kondo, Yutaka, Moteki, Nobuhiro, Schwarz, Joshua P., Wiedinmyer, Christine, Darmenov, Anton S., da Silva, Arlindo M., Kaiser, Johannes W. Population Size, Fire Occurrence, Surface Thermal Properties, Land Surface Temperature, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Burned Area
Integrating computational methods to investigate the macroecology of microbiomes Mascarenhas, Rilquer, Ruziska, Flavia M., Moreira, Eduardo Freitas, Campos, Amanda B., Loiola, Miguel, Reis, Kaike, Trindade-Silva, Amaro E., Barbosa, Felipe A. S., Salles, Lucas, Menezes, Rafael, Veiga, Rafael, Coutinho, Felipe H., Dutilh, Bas E., Guimaraes, Paulo R., Assis, Ana Paula A., Ara, Anderson, Miranda, Jose G. V., Andrade, Roberto F. S., Vilela, Bruno, Meirelles, Pedro Milet Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Land Surface Temperature, Emissivity, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Evapotranspiration, Photosynthesis, Primary Production, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide, Absorption, Radiative Forcing
Diagnosing spatial biases and uncertainties in global fire emissions inventoriesIndonesia as regional case study Liu, Tianjia, Mickley, Loretta J., Marlier, Miriam E., DeFries, Ruth S., Khan, Md Firoz, Latif, Mohd Talib, Karambelas, Alexandra Land Surface Temperature, Fire Occurrence, Surface Thermal Properties, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Reflectance, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Burned Area
Dynamics of savanna clearing and land degradation in the newest agricultural frontier in Brazil Almeida de Souza, Alana, Galvao, Lenio Soares, Korting, Thales Sehn, Prieto, Juan Doblas Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Mapping burned areas of Mato Grosso state Brazilian Amazon using multisensor datasets Shimabukuro, Yosio Edemir, Dutra, Andeise Cerqueira, Arai, Egidio, Duarte, Valdete, Cassol, Henrique Luis Godinho, Pereira, Gabriel, Cardozo, Francielle da Silva Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Reflectance
Intercomparison of burned area products and its implication for carbon emission estimations in the Amazon Pessoa, Ana Carolina M., Anderson, Liana O., Carvalho, Nathalia S., Campanharo, Wesley A., Junior, Celso H. L. Silva, Rosan, Thais M., Reis, Joao B. C., Pereira, Francisca R. S., Assis, Mauro, Jacon, Aline D., Ometto, Jean P., Shimabukuro, Yosio E., Silva, Camila V. J., Pontes-Lopes, Aline, Morello, Thiago F., Aragao, Luiz E. O. C. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Open Data and Machine Learning to Model the Occurrence of Fire in the Barreto, Joan Sebastian, Armenteras, Dolors Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
An Adaptive and Extensible System for Satellite-Based, Large Scale Burnt Area Monitoring in Near-Real Time Nolde, Michael, Plank, Simon, Riedlinger, Torsten Reflectance, Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Infrared Radiance, REFLECTED INFRARED, Visible Radiance, Surface Thermal Properties, Land Surface Temperature, THERMAL ANOMALIES
A satellite data driven approach to monitoring and reporting fire disturbance and recovery across boreal and temperate forests Hislop, Samuel, Haywood, Andrew, Jones, Simon, Soto-Berelov, Mariela, Skidmore, Andrew, Nguyen, Trung H. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Accuracy and spatiotemporal distribution of fire in the Brazilian biomes from the MODIS burned-area products Santana, Nickolas Castro, de Carvalho, Osmar Abilio, Gomes, Roberto Arnaldo Trancoso, Guimaraes, Renato Fontes Fire Occurrence, Surface Thermal Properties, Land Surface Temperature, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Burned Area
A trend of increasing burned areas in Iraq from 2001 to 2019 Rasul, Azad, Ibrahim, Gaylan R. Faqe, Hameed, Hasan M., Tansey, Kevin Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
A remote sensing and meteorological data-based methodology for wildfire danger assessment for China Xie, Qian, Quan, Xingwen, He, Binbin Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
A multi-year and high-resolution inventory of biomass burning emissions in tropical continents from 2001-2017 based on satellite observations Shi, Yusheng, Zang, Shuying, Matsunaga, Tsuneo, Yamaguchi, Yasushi Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Canopy Characteristics, Evergreen Vegetation, Crown, Deciduous Vegetation, Leaf Characteristics, Vegetation Cover
Analysis of methane concentration anomalies over burned areas of the boreal and arctic zone of eastern Siberia in 20182019 using TROPOMI data Cherepanova, E. V., Feoktistova, N. V., Chudakova, M. A. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Analysis of Methane Concentration Anomalies over Burned Out Territories of the Boreal and Arctic Zone of Eastern Siberia in 20182019 Based on TROPOMI Satellite Data Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Burnt area detection using medium resolution Sentinel 2 and Landsat 8 satellites Ongeri, D., Kenduiywo, B. K. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Assessing the shape accuracy of coarse resolution burned area identifications Humber, Michael L., Boschetti, Luigi, Giglio, Louis Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
MODIS sensor capability to burned area mappingAssessment of performance and improvements provided by the latest standard products in boreal regions Moreno-Ruiz, Jose A., Garcia-Lazaro, Jose R., Arbelo, Manuel, Canton-Garbin, Manuel Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
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