Estimating the characteristics of sub-pixel fires using Suomi-NPP VIIRS data

The characteristics of sub-pixel fires in Suomi-NPP VIIRS data are studied using the Nightfire algorithm which attempts to fit the spectral radiance to a blackbody function. For small and/or low intensity fires, the fire temperature tends to be underestimated while the fire area are overestimated. The accuracy is improved when only the shorter wavelength bands are used in the fitting or when the whole spectrum is fitted to two blackbody functions representing the fire and the background components.