Satellite Active Fire Product Validation Using High Spatial Resolution Reference Data

* Corresponding author. Abstract – Current satellite active fire products provide a snapshot of biomass burning activity at regional to global scales. In order to assess the performance of those products, it is important to: (i) have near-coincident reference data to avoid validation artefacts due to short-term variations in fire conditions; and (ii) to be able to represent the entire active fire line and adjacent smouldering areas, as well as the surrounding fire-free background that will normally be used by contextual fire algorithms in the classification of a fire pixel. In this study, we present the results from the global scale assessment of the EOS/Terra MODIS 1km active fire product (MOD14) based on the use of near-coincident 30m Landsat-class reference data. The validation methodology is also demonstrated for other fire products, with a focus on the next generation NPP/VIIRS and GOES-R/ABI preand post-launch active fire validation plans using Landsat-class and airborne reference data.