I have several questions about the GOES satellite that some of the WX guys might have the answer to.
How hot or how long of a duration does the fire need to be for the GOES algorithm to read it as a fire and not filter it out? I have noticed that sometimes fires in brush country(not quick burning grass) don’t make the cut, but someone’s small burn pile will.
what is the status of the new GOES satellite. I saw something in the news a while back that some of it’s sensors were not working properly. Are those the sensors we would want to be using for fire?
This is a good article about the GOES-17 issue. I haven’t heard anything since.
GOES-16 has been moved to be the new GOES-East, and is still providing good data, but with a bit of a different view. I have not seen products from GOES-17 (the new GOES West) yet.
Satellite hits from the detection algorithms on MODIS and VIIRS are from different instruments and different satellites. See more information here: https://earthdata.nasa.gov/firms-faq
Edit: It looks like they have made some progress, but are still working to isolate and mitigate the problem. And hopefully fix it for the next GOES satellite: