UCI-NASA Wildfire Event Tracking Using Satellites Fire Detections

Welcome to our website, showcasing the collaborative research between UCI and NASA focused on tracking wildfire events through satellite-based observations of active fires and burned areas. This platform provides in-depth information on the fire tracking algorithms, the datasets they generates, and the scientific studies that leverage these tools to advance our understanding of wildfire behavior and impacts.

Fire Event Data Suite (FEDS)

The FEDS algorithm tracks wildfire events using 375 m resolution data from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) active fire detections. At each half-daily time step, fire pixels are grouped based on spatial proximity and either appended to an existing active fire event or assigned to a new one. This automated process continuously updates each fire’s attributes, outlines the fire perimeter, and identifies the active fire front in near real-time, following satellite data acquisition.

For a detailed description of the FEDS algorithm, see Chen et al., 2022.

FEDS California

FEDS California is tailored to monitor wildfire-prone regions across the state. Using this system, we mapped the wildfire history of California from 2012 to 2020, providing a comprehensive view of fire activity over nearly a decade.

For a detailed description of the FEDS California dataset, see Chen et al., 2022. The dataset and the initial version of the FEDS Python code are available in this Figshare repository. A large fire dataset (2012-2023) derived using an updated version of FEDS (FEDS2.5) are also available for downloading here.

FEDS Arctic–Boreal

In this study, we applied a modified version of the FEDS algorithm to map the sub-daily progression of all circumpolar Arctic–boreal fires from 2012 to 2023. Additionally, we classified the Arctic–boreal biomes into seven distinct ‘pyroregions’ based on fire activity and ecosystem characteristics.

For more details, refer to Scholten et al., 2024. The Arctic–boreal fire atlas data for 2012–2023 is available via the Pangaea repository. The fire tracking code used to generate the Arctic–boreal fire atlas is freely accessible on Zenodo.

CONUS fire perimeter API

The FEDS algorithm has been implemented to create fire perimeters in CONUS for historical fires and near real time (NRT) fire occurrences. We created an OGC API that allows users to access the NRT fire perimeters data through online request.

The access point for the CONUS fire perimeter API is https://firenrt.delta-backend.com. Here is a tutorial for using this API to explore and filter data.

GOFER

The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) provide complementary information about wildfire spread. In this study, we developed GOES-Observed Fire Event Representation (GOFER) algorithm to derive the hourly fire progression of large wildfires and create a product of hourly fire perimeters, active-fire lines, and fire spread rates.

Please refer to Liu et al., 2024 for more detail. The GOFER product of the 28 fires in California from 2019 to 2021 is available on Zenodo. The code for the GOFER algorithm is available at Zenodo.

FEDS Hourly

By combining FEDS 12-hourly data and the hourly FRP data from GOES, we performed spatial interpolation to derive the best guess hourly fire perimeters. This work is still in the experimental stage and the hourly perimeters are only available for limitted large fires in California.

Global Fire Atlas (GFA)

In parallel to the FEDS algorithm, we also developed the GFA approach to tracks the dynamics of individual fires. The GFA approach was initially implemented using 500m MODIS burned-area data, and a global GFA dataset was created. Later, we implemented the GFA approach using VIIRS active fire detections to track and classify Amazon fire events in near real time.

Please refer to Andela et al., 2019 for the description of the GFA method. The global GFA product for 2003-2016 is available on ORNL DAAC. The GFA application in Amazon using the VIIRS active fires was described in Andela et al., 2022, and the data for 2019-2020 are available in this Zenodo repository. The updated data are also available for interactive exploring in the Amazon Fire Dashboard.

Other developments and applications

- CA Air Resources Board (ARB, Lisa Rosenthal's work).

- Candidate fires (Shane Coffields's work).

- Fire tracking in Canada (Stefano Potter's work)

- NASA Visualizations: 2021 Caldor Fire, 2021 Dixie Fire, 2023 Canadian fire season