The WFW is a system for globally mapping fires in vegetation. It is being developed in response to a call from scientists and policy makers for globally consistent information on the distribution and behaviour of fire in the environment. Satellite images (NOAA AVHRR) are acquired by a world-wide network of receiving stations. Each station operates a data processing chain for detecting fires in the satellite imagery. Daily, global fire maps are built up at each station from this regional data by automatically sharing regional fire maps over the internet. Global fire information is then available on-line, from each station, in near real-time. The WFW Home Page is: http://www.gvm.sai.jrc.it/projects/fire/wfw/wfw.html
Search for fire maps can be done online by requesting 1-day or 10-days products (global maps showing the number of detected fires in each 0.5x0.5 deg raster cell) by clicking on: http://ptah.gvm.sai.jrc.it/cgi-bin/wfwjava.cgi/GDSscript and entering the requested day or period. The latest 10-day global fire product is displayed below.
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Fig.1. The most recent 10-day World Fire Web network
global map of active fires (26 January 2000 + 10 days, number of days composited = 6).
Fig.2 and 3. These maps show the satellite coverage frequency and cloudiness of the
regions monitored by the WFW in the same time period (note: fire detection by NOAA AVHRR
is not possible if clouds obscure the ground).
Source: The World Fire Web network is implemented and coordinated by the Space Applications Institute of the EU Joint Research Centre, in collaboration with national institutions (list available at: http://www.gvm.sai.jrc.it/projects/fire/.