Frequently Asked Questions

Fire Radiative Power (FRP) is the rate of radiative energy emission per unit time measured in megawatts (MW) from all heat sources within a single hotspot. FRP is related to the rate at which fuel is being consumed, with higher values corresponding to higher rates of fuel consumption.

Cluster confidence represents the reliability of cluster detections. It represents the overall confidence that the cluster is a valid heat source and is primarily influenced by the number of independent hotspot detections. As a rule of thumb, clusters with confidence over 0.4 are more likely to be an actual wildfire, whereas clusters with a confidence equal or lower than 0.2 are more likely to be false detections.

Fire confidence is a top-level metric describing the level of certainty with which we consider a cluster to be a fire. It is derived from aggregating several key metrics that report on the local fire weather, fire radiative power and the detecting satellites and algorithms. The result is one of the following categorical values: Not enough data (0%), Unlikely (25%), Indecisive (50%), Likely (75%), Very likely (90%).

Hotspots are detected by applying multiple detection algorithms that identify thermal anomalies in satellite imagery. Most algorithms identify pixels as hotspots by exploiting the strong emission of fires in the midwave infrared part of the spectrum. In addition, two algorithms that leverage the emissive component of fires in the shortwave infrared spectrum are also used in WFS.

The dimensions of a footprint of a single hotspot on the ground are determined by:

1. The height of the satellite orbit

2. The instrument and the wavelength/s used

3. Acquisition mode (how the instrument is being operated)

4. Acquisition angle (mostly incidence angle)

5. Topography

They usually range between 300 and 1100 meters for satellites in LEO. The detected hotspot can be anywhere within this circle and the size of the circle does not necessarily represent the actual size of the fire. In our system, the first 4 factors are considered and are reported as GSD or “Ground Sampling Distance”. In general, smaller GSD (which means higher spatial resolution) can be achieved for shorter wavelengths. This is one of the reasons for the relatively large footprints of thermal sensors that operate in the long-wave infrared (longer wavelengths). One of the advantages of our constellation of FOREST satellites will be a smaller footprint of approximately 200x200 meters on the ground.

All clusters shown on the Wildfire Solution interface have a "lifetime" of 48 hours by default if they are not classified or if there are no further hotspot detections associated with it. 

Explanation: Each new hotspot detection associated with a cluster will extend its "lifetime" for you to classify it either as a fire event or as a non-fire event. Once a cluster is classified as a fire it will remain visible in your interface for the upcoming 7 days. If a cluster is classified with non-fire its outline will change to a darker color and it will not be active to send you notifications.

If you want to stop notifications regarding clusters that have been already recognized or classified, you can stop notifications from the Cluster information view or the Activity Feed for up to 24h, 48h, or a week if desired.

For a detailed description please visit this article.

Yes we can integrate multiple data files into your profiles not only for you but under request for all of your fellow members belonging to the same or different organizations. The kind of data that we can integrate into your profiles includes:

• Shapefiles as your monitored areas

• Layers for your AOIs 

• Integration of complementary service providers (Cameras, Sensors, etc.)

Check the settings for your monitored area. Different settings can lead to different outcomes:

• Enabling geostationary satellite notification allows being notified of all hotspots in an area, which typically leads to an increased amount of received notifications

• Excluding known constant heat sources allows for preventing notifications for “constant hotspots”, such as industry, volcano, etc.

• Setting a high minimum number of hotspots will trigger notifications only if a cluster contains at least the indicated amount of hotspots

If you see a cluster within your monitored area, which matches all criteria, but for which you didn’t receive a notification, then it was most likely triggered by one of the following satellites:

• • Sentinel-2A

  • Sentinel-2B

  • Landsat-8

  • Landsat-9

These satellites deliver low-confidence detections and therefore don’t currently trigger initial notifications. This means that a new cluster, detected only by one of these satellites, won’t trigger any notification. However, if a cluster was already detected by another satellite, a notification will be sent out.

You most likely have different settings for your monitored area. Double-check them and make sure they’re the same! Especially having different Geostationary satellite notifications and a Minimum Number of Hotspots settings can lead to very different results.

The dimensions of the footprint of a single pixel on the ground are a function of several parameters. In general, given specific optics, smaller Ground Sample Distance (which means higher spatial resolution) can be achieved for shorter wavelengths. This is one of the reasons for the relatively large footprints of thermal sensors. For LEO satellites the Ground Sample Distance (GSD) ranges from 375 m to 1100 m and for the GEO satellites it starts at 2000 m but it gets bigger at higher latitutes.

The terms LEO and GEO refer to two groups of satellite orbits. LEO stands for Low Earth Orbit and describes orbits that are relatively close to Earth’s surface, at an average altitude of less than 1000 km above Earth. GEO stands for Geostationary orbits. Satellites in geostationary orbits circle Earth above the equator at an average altitude of 35,786 km, at exactly the same rate as Earth, thus appearing to be ‘stationary’ over a fixed position. Because of their relatively short distance from Earth, satellites in LEO are capable of acquiring observations with a smaller footprint on the ground than satellites in GEO, which makes them useful in the detection of relatively small fires. However, the smaller footprint of satellites in LEO comes at the expense of requiring a relatively long time for the satellite to observe the same position again (typically several days). On the contrary, satellites in GEO can observe half of the world’s surface every 15-30 minutes, but with a much larger footprint on the ground.

The actual dimensions of the footprint of a single hotspot on the ground are determined by:

• Orbit of the satellite

• Instrument used

• Acquisition mode (how the instrument is being operated)

• Acquisition angle (mostly incidence angle)

• Topography

The Ground Sample Distance (GSD) value reported considers the first four factors.

Organization-wide monitored areas (shared areas) are monitored areas which are created by the administrator or owner of an organization. Only the administrator/owner can change or delete them but every user of an organization can see them and assign notifications for his account to them. This way, a monitored area has to be created only once instead of every user of an organization having to add the exact same area.

To change the notification methods for a monitored area go to the Monitor and into the Your Areas tab. Then click on the edit button of the area you want to enable/disable notifications for and toggle the switch button for your desired notification method.

Once you join our Wildfire Solution you receive a welcome email with an activation link that has an expiration date. That is why we encourage all our users to use the activation link as soon as possible to ensure their access to our solution. 

If you can not find the welcome email with the subject "Get Started and Set Your Password!" in your mailbox, please look for it in your spam post, after you click on the activation link you can set up your own password and get started to our Wildfire Solution.

Yes we can integrate multiple data files into your profiles not only for you but under request for all of your fellow members belonging to the same or different organizations. The kind of data that we can integrate into your profiles includes:

• Shapefiles as your monitored areas

• Layers for your AOIs 

• Integration of complementary service providers (Cameras, Sensors, etc.)