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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.

Known Issues

Version Description

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).

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 Present
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
C2565786756-LPCLOUD
Data State
ACTIVE
Number of Files/Granules
81460
Processing Level
3
Published
Updated
Science Keywords
Fire Ecology ,
Biomass Burning ,
Wildfires ,
Fire Occurrence ,
Burned Area

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. (2021). MODIS/Terra+Aqua Burned Area Monthly L3 Global 500m SIN Grid V061 [Data set]. NASA Land Processes Distributed Active Archive Center. https://doi.org/10.5067/MODIS/MCD64A1.061 Date Accessed: 2026-05-19

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).

Documents

USER'S GUIDE

ALGORITHM THEORETICAL BASIS DOCUMENT (ATBD)

PRODUCT QUALITY ASSESSMENT

SCIENCE DATA PRODUCT VALIDATION

GENERAL DOCUMENTATION

Use Worldview to Determine Fire Affected Areas in NRT Using MODIS and VIIRS

This tutorial shows how using Worldview, 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.
Tutorial
Aug. 26, 2013
MODIS 7-2-1

FIRMS - Use ArcGIS to Determine Fire Affected Areas in NRT Using MODIS and VIIRS

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.
Tutorial
Aug. 26, 2013
SHOWING 3 OF 3

Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Year Author Topic
Short communicationSavanna-forest boundary on mount rinjani, lombok island, west nusa tenggara, indonesia SUTOMO, Sutomo, Van Etten, Eddie, Iryadi, Rajif Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Sensitivity of spectral indices on burned area detection using landsat time series in savannas of southern Burkina Faso Liu, Jinxiu, Maeda, Eduardo Eiji, Wang, Du, Heiskanen, Janne Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Utilization of Hyperspectral Remote Sensing Imagery for Improving Burnt Area Mapping Accuracy Nolde, Michael, Plank, Simon, Riedlinger, Torsten Fire Occurrence, Surface Thermal Properties, Land Surface Temperature, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Reflectance, Burned Area
Using remotely sensed indicators of primary productivity to improve prioritization of conservation areas for top predators Regos, Adrian, Arenas-Castro, Salvador, Tapia, Luis, Dominguez, Jesus, Honrado, Joao P. Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Validation of MCD64A1 and FireCCI51 cropland burned area mapping in Ukraine Hall, Joanne V., Argueta, Fernanda, Giglio, Louis Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Uav assisted spatiotemporal analysis and management of bushfires: A case study of the 2020 victorian bushfires Munawar, Hafiz Suliman, Ullah, Fahim, Khan, Sara Imran, Qadir, Zakria, Qayyum, Siddra Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Surface Thermal Properties, Land Surface Temperature, THERMAL ANOMALIES, Reflectance
Uni-Temporal Multispectral Imagery for Burned Area Mapping with Deep Learning Hu, Xikun, Ban, Yifang, Nascetti, Andrea Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Unveiling the factors responsible for Australias black summer fires of 2019/2020 Levin, Noam, Yebra, Marta, Phinn, Stuart Reflectance, Anisotropy, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Tropical Dry Forest Resilience to Fire Depends on Fire Frequency and Hartung, Maximilian, Carreno-Rocabado, Geovana, Pena-Claros, Marielos, van der Sande, Masha T. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
The smokescreen of Russian protected areas Cazzolla Gatti, Roberto, Velichevskaya, Alena, Dudko, Anastasia, Fabbio, Luca, Notarnicola, Claudia Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Post-Soviet shifts in grazing and fire regimes changed the functional plant community composition on the Eurasian steppe Freitag, Martin, Kamp, Johannes, Dara, Andrey, Kuemmerle, Tobias, Sidorova, Tatyana V., Stirnemann, Ingrid A., Velbert, Frederike, Holzel, Norbert Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Potential and challenges of harmonizing 40 years of AVHRR dataThe timeline experience Dech, Stefan, Holzwarth, Stefanie, Asam, Sarah, Andresen, Thorsten, Bachmann, Martin, Boettcher, Martin, Dietz, Andreas, Eisfelder, Christina, Frey, Corinne, Gesell, Gerhard, Gessner, Ursula, Hirner, Andreas, Hofmann, Matthias, Kirches, Grit, Klein, Doris, Klein, Igor, Kraus, Tanja, Krause, Detmar, Plank, Simon, Popp, Thomas, Reinermann, Sophie, Reiners, Philipp, Roessler, Sebastian, Ruppert, Thomas, Scherbachenko, Alexander, Vignesh, Ranjitha, Wolfmueller, Meinhard, Zwenzner, Hendrik, Kuenzer, Claudia Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI)
Patterns of mega-forest fires in east Siberia will become less predictable with climate warming Natole, Michael, Ying, Yiming, Buyantuev, Alexander, Stessin, Michael, Buyantuev, Victor, Lapenis, Andrei Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Patterns of post-drought recovery are strongly influenced by drought duration, frequency, post-drought wetness, and bioclimatic setting Jiao, Tong, Williams, Christopher A., De Kauwe, Martin G., Schwalm, Christopher R., Medlyn, Belinda E. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Prescribed burning reduces large, high-intensity wildfires and emissions in the brazilian savanna Santos, Filippe L.M., Nogueira, Joana, Souza, Rodrigo A. F. de, Falleiro, Rodrigo M., Schmidt, Isabel B., Libonati, Renata Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Wetter environment and increased grazing reduced the area burned in northern Eurasia from 2002 to 2016 Hao, Wei Min, Reeves, Matthew C., Baggett, L. Scott, Balkanski, Yves, Ciais, Philippe, Nordgren, Bryce L., Petkov, Alexander, Corley, Rachel E., Mouillot, Florent, Urbanski, Shawn P., Yue, Chao Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Refined burned-area mapping protocol using Sentinel-2 data increases estimate of 2019 Indonesian burning Gaveau, David L. A., Descals, Adria, Salim, Mohammad A., Sheil, Douglas, Sloan, Sean Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Relationship between Fire Events and Land Use Changes in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil Philogene, Sheena, Ni-Meister, Wenge Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Recent trends in the fire dynamics in Brazilian Legal Amazon: Interaction between the ENSO phenomenon, climate and land use Ferreira Barbosa, Maria Lucia, Delgado, Rafael Coll, Forsad de Andrade, Caio, Teodoro, Paulo Eduardo, Silva Junior, Carlos Antonio, Wanderley, Henderson Silva, Capristo-Silva, Guilherme Fernando Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Recovery: Fast and slow-vegetation response during the 2012-2016 California drought Yang, Xi, Xu, Xiangtao, Stovall, Atticus, Chen, Min, Lee, JungEun 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)
Current and future patterns of forest fire occurrence in China Wu, Zhiwei, He, Hong S., Keane, Robert E., Zhu, Zhiliang, Wang, Yeqiao, Shan, Yanlong Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Detection of HCOOH, CH3OH, CO, HCN, and C(2)H(6)in Wildfire Plumes Yamanouchi, Shoma, Strong, Kimberly, Lutsch, Erik, Jones, Dylan B. A. Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Estimation of forest fire emissions in Southwest China from 2013 to 2017 Wang, Wenjia, Zhang, Qixing, Luo, Jie, Zhao, Ranran, Zhang, Yongming Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
FIRED (Fire Events Delineation)An open, flexible algorithm and database of US fire events derived from the MODIS burned area product (2001-2019) Balch, Jennifer K., St. Denis, Lise A., Mahood, Adam L., Mietkiewicz, Nathan P., Williams, Travis M., McGlinchy, Joe, Cook, Maxwell C. Land Use/Land Cover Classification, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Fire activity in Mediterranean forests (The Algerian case) Curt, Thomas, Aini, Aissa, Dupire, Sylvain Vegetation Index, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Terrain Elevation, Digital Elevation/Terrain Model (DEM), Topographical Relief Maps, Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
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