Transatlantic Fire Resource Guide
Satellite, Radar, and Observations
Copernicus Browser – Sentinel Satellite Data Viewer
Operator: European Space Agency (ESA) / Copernicus programme
Geographic Focus: Global
Tags: Satellite Imagery · Active Fire Detection · Post-Fire Assessment · Real-Time Monitoring
Access: Free, public (account required for some functions)
The Copernicus Browser provides on-demand access to the full archive of Sentinel satellite imagery — including Sentinel-2 high-resolution multispectral data (10 m), Sentinel-1 SAR, and Sentinel-3 fire radiative power products — through an interactive web interface supporting custom band combinations, spectral indices (NDVI, NBR, SWIR false color), and time-series comparisons. For wildfire applications, it is the premier free tool for mapping burn scars with the Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR), assessing post-fire vegetation recovery, delineating fire perimeters from SWIR imagery, and detecting active fires using Sentinel-3 SLSTR. Emergency managers, remote sensing analysts, and researchers can use the browser to generate before/after fire imagery comparisons within hours of a Sentinel-2 overpass, making it an essential resource for rapid damage assessment.
Environment and Climate Change Canada – Weather Information Portal
Operator: Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) / Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC)
Geographic Focus: Canada (national, provincial, and local)
Tags: Fire Weather · Real-Time Monitoring · Map · Operational · Public Outreach
Access: Free, public
The main ECCC weather portal is Canada's authoritative public-facing weather service, providing local and regional forecasts, AQHI readings, active weather warnings and advisories (including Fire Weather Watches and Special Air Quality Statements), national radar and satellite imagery, seasonal climate outlooks, and links to specialized products including FireWork smoke forecasts. As the primary interface through which Canadians access official government weather and air quality guidance, it is the essential starting point for any fire-related situational awareness in Canada — particularly during wildfire season when concurrent weather extremes, smoke events, and fire weather warnings are issued across multiple regions simultaneously. For fire managers and emergency coordinators, the portal also links directly to Environment Canada's model output, marine forecasts, and the national weather warning map, consolidating the majority of operationally relevant MSC products in one location.
EUMETView Product Viewer
Operator: EUMETSAT (European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites)
Geographic Focus: Europe, Africa, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and global (Meteosat, Metop, MSG coverage)
Tags: Satellite Imagery · Active Fire Detection · Real-Time Monitoring · Map · Operational
Access: Free, public (some data requires registration)
EUMETView is EUMETSAT's official interactive satellite product viewer, providing real-time access to imagery and derived products from the Meteosat Second Generation (MSG) and Meteosat Third Generation (MTG) geostationary satellites, as well as Metop polar-orbiting platforms — including Natural Color, fire RGB, dust RGB, and fire radiative power products. For Europe and Africa, it is the primary source of operational geostationary satellite fire detection and smoke visualization, with Meteosat's rapid-scan mode providing imagery updates every 5 minutes over Europe. Fire managers, civil protection authorities, and meteorologists across the EU can use EUMETView to monitor active fire fronts, track smoke plume evolution, and assess day/night fire behavior in near-real time at continental scale.
Kachelmannwetter
Operator: Kachelmann GmbH
Geographic Focus: Primarily Europe (Germany, Austria, Switzerland focus; broader European coverage)
Tags: Fire Weather · Real-Time Monitoring · Map · Forecast · Short-Range · German
Access: Free (core); premium subscription for extended features and data
Kachelmannwetter is a professional-grade meteorological platform widely used across the German-speaking world, offering high-quality radar animations, lightning detection data (BLIDS/EUCLID), wind and weather station observations, and multi-model NWP forecast charts (including ICON-D2, ECMWF, and GFS) with an emphasis on central European detail and accuracy. The platform integrates radar and lightning data in a single map interface that is particularly valuable for fire weather monitoring — especially for tracking dry convective storms producing lightning without significant precipitation, the primary ignition risk in central European forest landscapes. For German, Austrian, and Swiss fire weather forecasters, land managers, and emergency planners, Kachelmannwetter provides operationally useful high-resolution meteorological situational awareness that supplements official DWD products.
NWS Weather and Hazards Data Viewer
Operator: NOAA National Weather Service (NWS) / Western Region
Geographic Focus: United States (national)
Tags: Fire Weather · Fire Danger · Real-Time Monitoring · Map · Operational
Access: Free, public
The NWS Weather and Hazards Data Viewer is an interactive map tool that aggregates and displays the full range of NWS hazard products — including watches, warnings, and advisories across weather, fire, hydrology, and other hazard categories — alongside forecast and observational overlays. Users can simultaneously view active Red Flag Warnings, Fire Weather Watches, and other critical alerts spatially, with the ability to layer additional data such as radar, satellite, and model output in a single interface. For fire managers, emergency coordinators, and local officials, this viewer provides a rapid, map-based situational picture of concurrent weather hazards affecting fire operations — especially useful during complex, multi-region fire events where overlapping meteorological threats must be tracked simultaneously.
NOAA/NESDIS GOES Imagery Viewer
Operator: NOAA / NESDIS / Center for Satellite Applications and Research (STAR)
Geographic Focus: Western Hemisphere (CONUS, Alaska, Hawaii, Caribbean, Pacific, full disk)
Tags: Satellite Imagery · Active Fire Detection · Real-Time Monitoring · Map · Operational
Access: Free, public
The NOAA/NESDIS GOES Imagery Viewer provides real-time and animated access to the full suite of GOES-East and GOES-West satellite products — including GeoColor true-color imagery, the Fire Temperature RGB composite for fire identification, GLM lightning flash extent density, Air Mass RGB, Sandwich RGB, and derived motion winds — across CONUS, mesoscale, and full-disk domains. The Fire Temperature RGB product is particularly valuable for fire operations, as it differentiates active fire areas from cooler smoke and clouds by highlighting high-temperature pixels in distinct colors, enabling rapid detection of new ignitions and fire perimeter changes even through partial cloud cover. Updated as frequently as every 30 seconds in mesoscale mode, the viewer gives fire weather meteorologists and aviation safety officers the near-real-time satellite situational awareness needed during rapidly evolving fire events.
NOAA NWS – National Radar Mosaic
Operator: NOAA National Weather Service (NWS)
Geographic Focus: Contiguous United States (CONUS)
Tags: Fire Weather · Real-Time Monitoring · Map · Operational
Access: Free, public
The NWS national radar mosaic stitches together observations from the U.S. network of WSR-88D (NEXRAD) Doppler radars into a continuously updated continental-scale reflectivity display, showing current precipitation location, intensity, and movement across the CONUS. In a wildfire context, the radar mosaic is an essential tool for monitoring convective activity — particularly dry thunderstorm cells producing lightning with little or no precipitation reaching the ground — which represent the primary natural ignition mechanism across much of the western U.S. Fire weather meteorologists rely on this product to track incoming storm lines, assess precipitation-to-fire risk ratios in real time, and inform spot weather forecasts during active ignition threat windows.
Weather Underground – Wundermap
Operator: Weather Underground / The Weather Company (IBM)
Geographic Focus: Global (densest coverage in U.S., Europe, Australia)
Tags: Fire Weather · Real-Time Monitoring · Map · Operational
Access: Free, public (account optional)
Wundermap is an interactive weather data platform aggregating real-time observations from Weather Underground's extensive Personal Weather Station (PWS) network — numbering hundreds of thousands of citizen-operated stations globally — alongside official NWS/ASOS data, live radar, satellite, and surface analysis overlays. Its primary value lies in hyperlocal surface weather data density: in populated areas and wildland-urban interface zones, PWS stations can provide temperature, relative humidity, and wind data at spatial resolutions far exceeding official station networks, which is critical for fire weather monitoring in terrain-complex areas where conditions vary sharply over short distances. Fire behavior analysts, prescribed burn practitioners, and local emergency managers can use Wundermap to identify microclimatic fire weather conditions — such as localized low humidity or channeled wind — that may not be captured by the nearest official RAWS or ASOS station.
Weather.us – NWP Model Chart Viewer
Operator: Kachelmann GmbH
Geographic Focus: Global and regional (with specialized domains for Europe, North America, and beyond)
Tags: Fire Weather · Forecast · Model Output · Map · Short-Range · Operational
Access: Free (core access); premium subscription for extended ECMWF data
URL: https://weather.us
Weather.us provides model chart output from all major global and local numerical weather prediction models — including ECMWF, ICON, GFS, UKMO, ACCESS-G, GEM at global scale and HRRR, NAM, ICON-D2, EURO4, and Swiss HD at regional/local scale — covering a wide range of meteorological parameters including surface wind, temperature, relative humidity, geopotential height, and precipitation. The platform's multi-model comparison capability makes it a valuable tool for fire weather meteorologists seeking to cross-check forecasts from different modeling systems for parameters directly relevant to fire behavior — particularly in scenarios where model uncertainty is high. Its combination of ECMWF-quality guidance with high-resolution mesoscale models in a single, cleanly presented interface makes it a popular choice among European and North American fire weather professionals.
Zoom Earth
Operator: Neave Interactive
Geographic Focus: Global
Tags: Satellite Imagery · Real-Time Monitoring · Map · Forecast
Access: Free, public
Zoom Earth provides live satellite imagery from GOES, Himawari, and Meteosat geostationary satellites alongside interactive weather overlays for precipitation, wind speed, temperature, and forecast model output (ICON, GFS), with additional layers for fire burnt area, cyclone tracking, and weather warnings, presented in a globally navigable map interface. The platform refreshes satellite imagery every 10–20 minutes and offers animation loops, making it accessible for users without specialist GIS tools who need a fast visual check on fire activity, smoke plume movement, or approaching weather systems. For public communicators, journalists, emergency managers, and situationally aware professionals, Zoom Earth provides an intuitive, browser-based satellite monitoring tool that requires no training and is available globally without login.