FIRMS: What does scan and track mean?
Posted: Fri Feb 09, 2024 10:37 am America/New_York
What does scan and track mean?
Scan and Track values are included in the attributes (see: What are the attributes / fields of the active fire data?). The scan value represents the spatial-resolution in the East-West direction of the scan and the track value represents the North-South spatial resolution of the scan. It should be noted that the pixel size is not always 1 km across the scan track. The pixels at the “Eastern” and the “Western” edges of the scan are bigger than 1 km. It is 1 km only along the nadir (exact vertical from the satellite). Thus, the values shown for scan and track represent the actual spatial resolution of the scanned pixel.
Scan and Track values are included in the attributes (see: What are the attributes / fields of the active fire data?). The scan value represents the spatial-resolution in the East-West direction of the scan and the track value represents the North-South spatial resolution of the scan. It should be noted that the pixel size is not always 1 km across the scan track. The pixels at the “Eastern” and the “Western” edges of the scan are bigger than 1 km. It is 1 km only along the nadir (exact vertical from the satellite). Thus, the values shown for scan and track represent the actual spatial resolution of the scanned pixel.