NASA FIRMS · Schema

Fire Detection Record

A single active fire detection hotspot record from NASA FIRMS, as returned in the CSV area fire detections endpoint. Field names and units follow MODIS/VIIRS standard column naming.

NASAFire DetectionSatelliteMODISVIIRSRemote SensingOpen DataEnvironmentalGeospatialScience

Properties

Name	Type	Description
latitude	number	Center latitude of the fire detection pixel in decimal degrees (WGS84).
longitude	number	Center longitude of the fire detection pixel in decimal degrees (WGS84).
brightness	number	Channel 21/22 brightness temperature (Kelvin) for MODIS, or I-4 brightness temperature (Kelvin) for VIIRS.
scan	number	Along-scan pixel size in kilometers.
track	number	Along-track pixel size in kilometers.
acq_date	string	Date of satellite acquisition in YYYY-MM-DD format.
acq_time	string	Time of satellite acquisition in HHMM UTC format.
satellite	string	Name of the satellite (e.g., Terra, Aqua, Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21, LANDSAT-8).
confidence	string	Detection confidence level. For MODIS: numeric 0-100 or categorical (l=low, n=nominal, h=high). For VIIRS: low, nominal, high.
version	string	Version of the FIRMS data collection and processing type (e.g., 6.1NRT, 6.1SP).
bright_t31	number	Channel 31 brightness temperature (Kelvin) for MODIS detections.
frp	number	Fire Radiative Power (MW) — measure of fire intensity.
daynight	string	Day (D) or Night (N) flag at time of satellite acquisition.

View JSON Schema on GitHub

JSON Schema

{
  "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
  "$id": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/nasa-firms/main/json-schema/fire-detection.json",
  "title": "Fire Detection Record",
  "description": "A single active fire detection hotspot record from NASA FIRMS, as returned in the CSV area fire detections endpoint. Field names and units follow MODIS/VIIRS standard column naming.",
  "type": "object",
  "properties": {
    "latitude": {
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": -90,
      "maximum": 90,
      "description": "Center latitude of the fire detection pixel in decimal degrees (WGS84)."
    },
    "longitude": {
      "type": "number",
      "minimum": -180,
      "maximum": 180,
      "description": "Center longitude of the fire detection pixel in decimal degrees (WGS84)."
    },
    "brightness": {
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Channel 21/22 brightness temperature (Kelvin) for MODIS, or I-4 brightness temperature (Kelvin) for VIIRS."
    },
    "scan": {
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Along-scan pixel size in kilometers."
    },
    "track": {
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Along-track pixel size in kilometers."
    },
    "acq_date": {
      "type": "string",
      "format": "date",
      "description": "Date of satellite acquisition in YYYY-MM-DD format."
    },
    "acq_time": {
      "type": "string",
      "pattern": "^[0-2][0-9][0-5][0-9]$",
      "description": "Time of satellite acquisition in HHMM UTC format."
    },
    "satellite": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Name of the satellite (e.g., Terra, Aqua, Suomi-NPP, NOAA-20, NOAA-21, LANDSAT-8).",
      "examples": ["Terra", "Aqua", "Suomi-NPP", "NOAA-20", "NOAA-21"]
    },
    "confidence": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Detection confidence level. For MODIS: numeric 0-100 or categorical (l=low, n=nominal, h=high). For VIIRS: low, nominal, high.",
      "examples": ["h", "n", "l", "high", "nominal", "low"]
    },
    "version": {
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Version of the FIRMS data collection and processing type (e.g., 6.1NRT, 6.1SP).",
      "examples": ["6.1NRT", "6.1SP", "2.0NRT"]
    },
    "bright_t31": {
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Channel 31 brightness temperature (Kelvin) for MODIS detections."
    },
    "frp": {
      "type": "number",
      "description": "Fire Radiative Power (MW) — measure of fire intensity."
    },
    "daynight": {
      "type": "string",
      "enum": ["D", "N"],
      "description": "Day (D) or Night (N) flag at time of satellite acquisition."
    }
  },
  "required": ["latitude", "longitude", "acq_date", "acq_time", "satellite"],
  "additionalProperties": true
}