Observation operator and detection limits for MODIS and VIIRS Fire Radiative Power products

Sofiev, Mikhail; Kouznetsov, Rostislav

doi:10.5194/gmd-19-10123-2026

Articles | Volume 19, issue 20

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-10123-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/gmd-19-10123-2026

© Author(s) 2026. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 19, issue 20

Development and technical paper

|

26 Oct 2026

Development and technical paper |

| 26 Oct 2026

Observation operator and detection limits for MODIS and VIIRS Fire Radiative Power products

Mikhail Sofiev and Rostislav Kouznetsov

Data sets

FRP\_OOp: OOp code used for the Egusphere submission on Jan 2026 M. Sofiev and R. Kouznetsov https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.18339604

Short summary

Satellites can observe fires globally, but sensitivity of instruments in space is limited: they miss small fires and cannot see through clouds. We analyzed fire observations of two instruments and obtained their sensitivity to small fires, which depends on the resolution of the instrument, timing of the observation (day or night), and details of the data processing. We developed a procedure for comparing fire model predictions with satellite observations accounting for their limited sensitivity.