Hi,
I am interested in using nighttime light data (VIIRS) to explore changes in nighttime lights only by humans during the wildfire. Will wildfire affect capturing nighttime light by humans in VIIRS data?
Best,
Woi
Nighttime light data (VIIRS)
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FIRMS - dylan.mendes
- Subject Matter Expert

- Posts: 14
- Joined: Tue May 13, 2025 2:45 pm America/New_York
Re: Nighttime light data (VIIRS)
Hi @twokr9090 ,
Yes wildfires will affect the nighttime lights layer in VIIRS data.
See an example of this on FIRMS here, https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#m:advanced;d:24hrs,24hrs;l:fires_landsat_landsat,fires_modis_aqua,fires_modis_terra,fires_viirs_noaa20,fires_viirs_noaa21,fires_viirs_snpp,country-outline,noaa20_bm,earth;@-64.4,15.4,4.0z.
** NOTE: This is FIRMS advanced mode, so it has a lot of functionality. I turned on the nighttime layer for NOAA-20 and the fire detections. Turning off the fire detections may help you see where the wildfires are in the nighttime layer, or using the opactiy slider above the polar orbiting layers right next to the word 'simple'.
Let me know if this helps or if you need more information.
Yes wildfires will affect the nighttime lights layer in VIIRS data.
See an example of this on FIRMS here, https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/map/#m:advanced;d:24hrs,24hrs;l:fires_landsat_landsat,fires_modis_aqua,fires_modis_terra,fires_viirs_noaa20,fires_viirs_noaa21,fires_viirs_snpp,country-outline,noaa20_bm,earth;@-64.4,15.4,4.0z.
** NOTE: This is FIRMS advanced mode, so it has a lot of functionality. I turned on the nighttime layer for NOAA-20 and the fire detections. Turning off the fire detections may help you see where the wildfires are in the nighttime layer, or using the opactiy slider above the polar orbiting layers right next to the word 'simple'.
Let me know if this helps or if you need more information.