The need exists for information on the occurrence of fires on the land surface, since fire changes the surface cover type and releases trace gases and particulate matter into the atmosphere, affecting ecosystems and atmospheric chemistry. Fire is also a hazard and satellite derived fire information can be used for improved fire and forest management. Identification of active volcanoes is also important because of the geophysical consequences they have on the Earth's atmosphere, including ozone destruction and the lowering of the global temperature.

The MODIS fire and thermal anomalies products contain information unique to understanding the timing and spatial distribution of fires and characteristics such as the energy emitted from the fire and is available for both day and night periods. Temporal composites include an eight-day and monthly day and night fire occurrence aggregation and a summary of the number of fires in classes related to the strength of the fire.

The MODIS Standard Fire products will provide an important contribution to the NASA Land Use and Land Cover Program and the International Global Observation of Forest Cover (GOFC) Project.

Image caption: Fires in the Bahamas, Florida and Cuba (03 April 2004, 18:30 UTC) identified using MODIS Aqua and outlined in red on the MODIS 1km corrected reflectance product (Jacques Descloitres).

Send comments to MODIS FIRE User Support at University of Maryland Authorized by Christopher Justice, Fire and Thermal Anomalies Principal Investigator