DATASET

Active fires in the Global Wildfire Information System (version 2-3-1)

Collection: CEMS-GWIS : Copernicus Emergency Management System - Global Wildfire Information System 

Description

This dataset series refers to the information on active fire detection provided by the Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS). ▷_How to cite: see below_◁  

Active fires are located on the basis of the so-called thermal anomalies produced by them. The algorithms compare the temperature of a potential fire with the temperature of the land cover around it; if the difference in temperature is above a given threshold, the potential fire is confirmed as an active fire or "hot spot". The mapping of active fires is performed to provide a synoptic view of current fires at the global scale. Information on active fires is normally updated 6 times daily and made available in EFFIS within 2-3 hours of the acquisition of the MODIS/VIIRS images. When interpreting the hotspots displayed in the map, the following must be considered. 1. Hotspot location on the map is only accurate within the spatial accuracy of the sensor. 2. Some fires may be small or obscured by smoke or cloud and remain undetected. 3. The satellites also detect other heat sources (not all hotspots are fires). 4. To minimize false alarms and filter out active fires not qualified as wildfires (e.g. agricultural burnings), the system only displays a filtered subset of the hotspots detected by FIRMS. To this end a knowledge based algorithm is applied that takes into account the extent of surrounding land cover categories, the distance to urban areas and artificial surfaces, the confidence level of the hotspot.

__How to cite__ - When using these data, please cite the relevant data sources. A suggested citation is included in the following:       

- San-Miguel-Ayanz, J., Houston Durrant, T., Boca, R., Libertà, G., Branco, A., de Rigo, D., Ferrari, D., Maianti, P., Artés Vivancos, T., Schulte, E., Loffler, P., Benchikha, A., Abbas, M., Humer, F., Konstantinov, V., Pešut, I., Petkoviček, S., Papageorgiou, K., Toumasis, I., Kütt, V., Kõiv, K., Ruuska, R., Anastasov, T., Timovska, M., Michaut, P., Joannelle, P., Lachmann, M., Pavlidou, K., Debreceni, P., Nagy, D., Nugent, C., Di Fonzo, M., Leisavnieks, E., Jaunķiķis, Z., Mitri, G., Repšienė, S., Assali, F., Mharzi Alaoui, H., Botnen, D., Piwnicki, J., Szczygieł, R., Janeira, M., Borges, A., Sbirnea, R., Mara, S., Eritsov, A., Longauerová, V., Jakša, J., Enriquez, E., Lopez, A., Sandahl, L., Reinhard, M., Conedera, M., Pezzatti, B., Dursun, K. T., Baltaci, U., Moffat, A., 2017. Forest fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2016. Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg. ISBN:978-92-79-71292-0, https://doi.org/10.2760/17690       

- Goldammer, J. G., Mangeon, S., Keywood, M., Kaiser, J. W., de Groot, W. J., Gunawan, D., Gan, C., Field, R., Sofiev, M., Baklanov, A., 2018. Vegetation Fire and Smoke Pollution Warning and Advisory System (VFSP-WAS): concept note and expert recommendations. Vol. 235 of GAW Report series. World Meteorological Organization, Geneva, Switzerland. https://library.wmo.int/doc_num.php?explnum_id=4519      

Contact

Email
jrc-effis (at) ec.europa.eu

Contributors

  • jrc-effis@ec.europa.eu

How to cite

European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) (2018): Active fires in the Global Wildfire Information System (version 2-3-1). European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC) [Dataset] PID: http://data.europa.eu/89h/b2a6ae42-8288-4e55-9386-aaeb93418801

Keywords

Copernicus Copernicus Emergency Management Service Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) Modelled family of quantities: Active fires

Data access

[VIEW] [WMS] GWIS View Service
URL 
  • GWIS view service for thematic typologies of data related to global wildfires (including fire danger; active fires; fire emissions).

[Download] Data Download Service
URL 
  • Data download service for thematic typologies of data related to global wildfires (including fire danger; active fires; fire emissions).

Spatial coverage

Type Value
GML
<gml:Polygon xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml">  <gml:outerBoundaryIs>    <gml:LinearRing>      <gml:coordinates>-180,90 180,90 180,-90 -180,-90 -180,90</gml:coordinates>    </gml:LinearRing>  </gml:outerBoundaryIs></gml:Polygon>
GML
<gml:Polygon xmlns:gml="http://www.opengis.net/gml/3.2">  <gml:exterior>    <gml:LinearRing>      <gml:posList>-180 90 180 90 180 -90 -180 -90 -180 90</gml:posList>    </gml:LinearRing>  </gml:exterior></gml:Polygon>
WKT
POLYGON ((-180 90, 180 90, 180 -90, -180 -90, -180 90))

Temporal coverage

From date To date
2017-01-01 N/A

Lineage information

Active fires information is based on the MODIS sensor, and the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite). GWIS uses the active fire detection provided by the NASA FIRMS (Fire Information for Resource Management System). The MODIS sensor, on board of the TERRA and ACQUA satellites, identifies areas on the ground that distinctly hotter than their surroundings and flags them as active fires. The difference in temperature between the areas that are actively burning with respect to neighbor areas allows the identification and mapping of active fires. The spatial resolution of the active fire detection pixel from MODIS is 1 km. The VIIRS on board of the NASA/NOAA Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (SNPP) uses similar algorithms to those used by MODIS to detect active fires. The VIIRS active fire products complements the MODIS active fire detection and provides an improved spatial resolution, as compared to MODIS. The spatial resolution of the active fire detection pixel for VIIRS is 375 m. Additionally, VIIRS is able to detect smaller fires and can help delineate perimeters of ongoing large fires.

Additional information

Published by
European Commission, Joint Research Centre
Created date
2020-08-26
Modified date
2020-08-26
Issued date
2018-09-28
Landing page
http://gwis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/ 
Language(s)
English
Data theme(s)
Environment
Update frequency
unknown
Identifier
http://data.europa.eu/89h/b2a6ae42-8288-4e55-9386-aaeb93418801
Popularity