EO·Atlas
Thermal anomaly detection
Identifies localised high-temperature events against background radiance; good for active fire detection, gas flare monitoring, and volcanic hotspot mapping.
Contextual or fixed threshold applied to mid-wave or longwave IR channels. High saturation risk over intense sources requires careful gain settings. MWIR (~3.5-4 um) is more sensitive to sub-pixel hot targets than LWIR. Wikipedia: Wildfire
- MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer)
via Terra
MODIS thermal bands underpin operational regional thermal anomaly/fire screening, but 1 km pixels are marginal for building-scale thermal performance.
- ECOSTRESS (ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station)
via ECOSTRESS ISS deployment
NASA ECOSTRESS project materials list wildfire and volcanic-hazard mapping among ECOSTRESS applications.
- SLSTR (Sea and Land Surface Temperature Radiometer)
via Sentinel-3A
Sentinel-3 SLSTR has dedicated fire channels and operational Fire Radiative Power products.
- Infrared Multispectral Scanner - 2
via Huan Jing-2A
IRMSS-2 MWIR/TIR channels are primary for fire temperature, fire radiative power, and fire fractional cover in WMO OSCAR.
- MSU-IK-SR
via Kanopus-V
MSU-IK-SR is a two-channel MWIR/TIR radiometer for detection of fire sources.
- Advanced Baseline Imager
via GOES-16
ABI supports fire detection and intensity estimation products.
- Flexible Combined Imager (FCI)
via Meteosat-12
FCI supports severe-weather and wildfire-response imagery.
- Advanced Himawari Imager
via Himawari-9
AHI MWIR/TIR observations support high-frequency geostationary thermal anomaly and fire monitoring.
- FY-4B Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager
via FY-4B
WMO identifies AGRI MWIR/TIR channels as suitable for fire radiative power and fire temperature retrieval.
- FY-4A Advanced Geostationary Radiation Imager
via FY-4A
WMO identifies AGRI MWIR/TIR channels as suitable for fire radiative power and fire temperature retrieval.
- Spinning Enhanced Visible and Infrared Imager
via Meteosat-10
SEVIRI IR 3.9 channel used for hotspot and fire detection; EUMETSAT publishes FIR (Fire Index Radiative power) product.
- MSU-GS Electro-L Imager
via Electro-L N4
MSU-GS IR 3.5-4.0 um channel supports fire and thermal anomaly detection products; WMO OSCAR lists fire detection among primary measurements.
- MSU-MR VIS/IR Imaging Radiometer
via Meteor-M N2-4
MSU-MR MWIR channel at 3.5-4.1 µm and TIR channels support thermal anomaly detection (active fire, industrial hotspots). WMO OSCAR lists fire as a measured variable.
- BlackShore Satellite Imagery Forensics
- Wildflyer Analysis
- ORCA Medium Class Thermal Orthos
- ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer)
ASTER TIR surface-temperature/emissivity data can support thermal outlier analysis, but availability is not an operational building-scale anomaly service.
- Visual and Infrared Multispectral Sensorpending review
VIMS visual/infrared multispectral payload plausibly supports thermal anomaly screening; detailed public band spec not reviewed.
- [1]Wikipedia: Wildfirecommunity2026-05-22
Edited from public sources. Last reviewed 2026-05-22 by SpectraWorks editorial. See the data dictionary for field definitions.
How to cite this page
Plain text
Thermal anomaly detection. EO-Atlas, SpectraWorks B.V., last reviewed 2026-05-22. https://eo-atlas.org/topics/methodologies/thermal-anomaly-detection (CC BY 4.0)
BibTeX
@misc{eoatlas:topics:methodologies:thermal-anomaly-detection,
title = {Thermal anomaly detection},
author = {{EO-Atlas}},
publisher = {SpectraWorks B.V.},
year = {2026},
note = {Last reviewed 2026-05-22. CC BY 4.0},
url = {https://eo-atlas.org/topics/methodologies/thermal-anomaly-detection}
}