Alerting System Information

While this application is key for active fire notification, it comes with some limitations. This is some essential information about this active fire alerting system and associated limitations.

Application Overview:

The application combines data from various satellite sources to monitor fire incidents. Subscribed users receive notifications when active fires are detected within their specified geofences. The system can identify active fires within a 3-kilometer radius of the designated geofences.

Geofences and Notifications:

Users define their geofences (specific areas of interest) for monitoring. SMS notifications are sent to subscribed users when active fires are detected within their specified geofences. The system considers both fires within the geofence and those in proximity (within the 3-kilometer buffer).

Challenges and Limitations:

• Cloud Cover: Clouds can affect the detection of active fires, potentially leading to missed incidents. Optical sensors may struggle to penetrate thick cloud cover.
• Satellite Orbit Coverage: Satellite orbits determine the coverage area. Some geofences may be outside the satellite’s field of view on certain days.
• Satellite Overpass Timing: Satellites don’t observe geofences continuously. The timing of satellite overpasses affects data collection. In some cases, a fire may start and burn out before the next overpass.
• Data Processing Lag: After satellite overpasses, data must be processed to identify active fires. This processing time can introduce latency in creating alerts and sending them.
• Spatial Resolution: The spatial resolution of the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) and Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) satellite senors determines the smallest detectable fire size. Very small fires might not be detected due to limitations in spatial resolution.

Alerting Time:

The time used in this application is in the Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), please note the offsets needed to convert to you local time. For instance in South Africa the offset is positive 2 hours, meaning to convert to local time add 2 hours.

Note: Multiple active fires can be detected within the same area. Rather than sending notifications for each individual active fire, we spatially cluster them into a single representative fire. The SMS notification includes the location of the representative fire. However, the original fire detections are shown on the AFIS viewer.