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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: 2026-05-12

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
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Publications Citing This Dataset

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Title Year Author Topic
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
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
Performance Analysis of Deep Convolutional Autoencoders with Different de Bem, Pablo Pozzobon, de Carvalho Junior, Osmar Abilio, de Carvalho, Osmar Luiz Ferreira, Gomes, Roberto Arnaldo Trancoso, Fontes Guimaraes, Renato Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
Persistent fire foci in all biomes undermine the Paris Agreement in Brazil da Silva Junior, Carlos Antonio, Teodoro, Paulo Eduardo, Delgado, Rafael Coll, Teodoro, Larissa Pereira Ribeiro, Lima, Mendelson, de Andrea Pantaleao, Ariane, Baio, Fabio Henrique Rojo, de Azevedo, Gileno Brito, de Oliveira Sousa Azevedo, Glauce Tais, Capristo-Silva, Guilherme Fernando, Arvor, Damien, Facco, Cassiele Uliana Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area, Land Surface Temperature, Surface Thermal Properties, THERMAL ANOMALIES
Predictive Modeling of Wildfire Occurrence and Damage in a Tropical Kouassi, Jean-Luc, Wandan, Narcisse, Mbow, Cheikh Fire Ecology, Biomass Burning, Wildfires, Fire Occurrence, Burned Area
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