The map
Each disc is a fire: the detections the VIIRS instruments on three satellites made within a few kilometers of one another in the last 24 hours, placed by the nearest of them, its area following the fire radiative power they add up to. A hollow ring is a steady hot spot, a place seen on most days of the year and never hot, a refinery flare or a landfill, and not counted. The diamond is this station; the rings are 100, 200 and 300 km from it, in the site’s distance unit.
Each detection is heat seen from orbit. Not every one is a wildfire, and none says where the smoke goes. Hover or tap a disc for its detections, its power and where it is. The map is Natural Earth’s land, lakes and state lines, drawn once; only the detections change, every quarter hour as NASA FIRMS answers.
Each detection is heat seen from orbit by the VIIRS instruments on three satellites, each passing over a few times a day. Not every one is a wildfire, and none says where the smoke goes. A fire is detections within a few kilometers of one another, placed by its nearest; its fire radiative power is its detections’ added together.
Data: NASA FIRMS. Map: Natural Earth.