Integration, Monitoring and Applications of the NOAA Operational VIIRS Active Fire Product

The new operational Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Active Fire (AF) product was implemented in the Suomi NPP Data Exploitation (NDE) system in March 2016. This Active Fire product is a tailored version of the NASA science product for real-time applications and is based on the heritage MODIS active fire product. Compared to the retiring IDPS AF operational product the new NDE AF product provides fire radiative power (FRP) of each fire pixel and a fire mask to describe each pixel as fire, clear land, clear water or cloud. It also provides global coverage including water to monitor primarily offshore gas flares. Routine monitoring of the product is ongoing. Following the NDE implementation the algorithm is being integrated into several NOAA applications either as final product or as an input for atmospheric models. The applications include the enhanced IDEA (Infusing satellite Data into Environmental Applications) system, the High Resolution Rapid Refresh (HRRR) model, the NOAA Hazard Mapping System (HMS) and AWIPS-II (Advanced Weather Interactive Processing System). Also, the NDE algorithm has been prepared for integration into the Community Satellite Processing Package (CSPP) for processing direct broadcast data. Initial analysis of the impact of the new product on operational applications is presented. The current operational product is run on Suomi NPP data and is planned to be implemented to process data from the JPSS-1 satellite as well. Future development of the operational AF product will include an improved land/sea mask and the incorporation of advanced algorithm options.