Case Selection¶

The application opens into the Case Selection Pane, which has three sections allowing the user to Load an existing case, Create a new case, or Delete an old case.

Load Existing Case¶

Use the dropdown to select a case, and then click the Load Case button to proceed to the Analysis Pipeline.

Create New Case¶

The Create New Case section allows the user to specify different configuration options for a new case.

Casename¶

Use the New Casename input to specify a unique name assigned to the case. This could be something like flinthills, fh-spring, or fh-fall2026.

There are currently no restrictions on the casename parameter (e.g., length limit or forbidden characters) but keep in mind that the casename is used to name files and folders.

Spatial Resolution and Bounding Box¶

Use the New Case Spatial Resolution Meters [dx, dy] input to specify the mapping grid spacing in the x- and y-direction in meters. The default of 500m x 500m is based on the nominal grid spacing of the VIIRS level 2 products, but the user may choose to tweak this (e.g., to match the nominal 375m or 750m resolution of the VIIRS I- and M-Bands).

Use the Bounding Box [minlon, minlat, maxlon, maxlat] input to specify the lower-left and upper-right coordinates of the bounding box grid.

• Once specified, use the Validate Bounding Box button to preview the bounding box in the map pane and tweak as necessary, or use the Reset Bounding Box button to delete the previous coordinates.

Note that the spatial resolution and bounding box are approximate and will be tweaked slightly by the reprojection algorithm which requires a whole-number of pixels in the x- and y-directions.

Data and Output Directories¶

Use the New Case Data Directory and New Case Output Directory inputs to specify the folders on your computer where data files will be written and used by the application.

• The Data Directory holds the large data files such as raw and reprojected satellite granules.

• The Output Directory holds the daily preliminary and final burnmasks as well as seasonal-aggregate burnmasks.

The application will join the Casename to the end of the entered Data Directory to make a combined file path. For example if the user specifies casename = "new_case", data_directory = "E:/USER/path/to/data_dir/", and output_directory = "C:/USER/path/to/output_dir/" the application will create the following directories as part of the case creation step:

# Data Directory
E:/USER/path/to/data_dir/new_case

# Output Directory
C:/USER/path/to/output_dir/new_case

The application treats the Data Directory and Output Directory separately so that large data files can be stored on an external file system, if available (e.g., on an E:/ drive rather than the primary C:/ drive). However the user can specify that a case utilize the same directory for both the Data Directory and Output Directory, if desired, by selecting the Same as Data Directory checkbox, which disables the New Case Output Directory input.

Once the directories have been entered, use the Validate Data Directory and Validate Output Directory (if applicable) buttons to ensure that the directories have been entered properly and are visible to the application.

Note that the application will not create the Data Directory and Output Directory if they do not exist. The directories must be created manualy (e.g., through the system file explorer).

Delete Case¶

Use the following steps to delete an old case:

1. Select the Enable Case Deletion checkbox
2. Use the dropdown to select the case for deletion
3. Click the Delete Case
4. Click the final Delete Case in the popup that has appeared. This cannot be undone!