VIIRS Active Fire Algorithm Integration in NOAA's Suomi NPP Data Exploitation Environment: Research to Operations

The Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership represents a critical first step in building the new-generation Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS). It was launched in October 2011 and carries a similar suite of sensors to what will be on board of JPSS satellites; the first of which (JPSS 1) planned to be launched in 2017. The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) Active Fire algorithm (AF) has been developed at the University of Maryland (UMD) and is based on MODIS active fire detection product heritage. The current version of the VIIRS Active Fire algorithm runs over land and produces a list of fire detections in a sparse array format. The algorithm runs on Suomi NPP VIIRS data within the Interface Data Processing Segment (IDPS). The full version of the algorithm provides all outputs consistent with the heritage MODIS product, including the 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. This full version of the algorithm has been implemented in NASA's Land Science Investigator-led Processing System (SIPS) as the NASA science product. A real-time tailored version of the AF algorithm is also currently being implemented in the development environment for the Suomi NPP Data Exploitation (NDE) system prior to transition to operations at the Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO). Initially it will run on Suomi NPP data and is planned to create the JPSS 1 product in the future. The presentation describes in detail the transition of the original UMD code into NDE pre-operational environment. Data flows and formats are described. Further enhancement of the NDE version of the AF algorithm is planned to incorporate an improved land/sea mask. In this presentation preliminary evaluation of the NDE AF product is also presented.