Status: this preprint is currently under review for the journal ESSD.
CONFEX: A Database for CONUS Fire EXtent
Raja Zubair Zahoor Qadiriand Diego Cerrai
Abstract. This article presents the CONUS Fire EXtent (CONFEX) database. This database, based on the VIIRS S-NPP 375 m data product, provides wildfire perimeter, centroid, ignition location, start and end date for the period 2012–2023, for the CONUS and Alaska regions. The algorithm takes hotspot locations from VIIRS S-NPP, clusters them into actual wildfires based on DBSCAN clustering and calculates the perimeter and centroid of each cluster, attaching a geodata frame to each cluster or fire. When validated for some recent large fires against the CALFIRE database, an F1 score of 85–96 % and a CSI of 74–93 % were found, showing the efficiency of the algorithm in aggregating hotspots spatially and temporally accurately. This is the first publicly available high-resolution wildfire extent dataset developed for the CONUS and Alaska regions using VIIRS S-NPP 375 m data product. The database provides a valuable resource for researchers to understand the complexities of the fire regimes in the CONUS and Alaska regions.
Received: 01 Aug 2025 – Discussion started: 26 Aug 2025
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Wildfire information is often scattered. We created an open database of individual wildfires across the contiguous United States and Alaska from 2012 to 2023. Using hot spot detections from the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership satellite, we grouped detections into single events and mapped each wildfire's boundary, location, and start and end dates. Checks against independent records show good agreement. The dataset supports studies of trends, risk, emissions, air quality, and planning.
Wildfire information is often scattered. We created an open database of individual wildfires...
