Landscape fire is a widespread, somewhat unpredictable phenomena that plays an important part in Earth's biogeochemical cycling. In many biomes worldwide fire also provides multiple ecological benefits, but in certain circumstances can also pose a risk to life and infrastructure, lead to net increases in atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations, and to degradation in air quality and consequently human health. Accurate, timely and frequently updated information on landscape fire activity is essential to improve our understanding of the drivers and impacts of this form of biomass burning, as well as to aid fire management. This information can only be provided using satellite Earth Observation approaches, and remote sensing of active fire is one of the key techniques used. This form of Earth Observation is based on detecting the signature of the (mostly infrared) electromagnetic radiation emitted as biomass burns. Since the early 1980's, active fire (AF) remote sensing conducted using Earth orbiting (LEO) satellites has been deployed in certain regions of the world to map the location and timing of landscape fire occurrence, and from the early 2000's global-scale information updated multiple times per day has been easily available to all. Geostationary (GEO) satellites provide even higher frequency AF information, more than 100 times per day in some cases, and both LEO- and GEO-derived AF products now often include estimates of a fires characteristics, such as its fire radiative power (FRP) output, in addition to the fires detection. AF data provide information relevant to fire activity ongoing when the EO data were collected, and this can be delivered with very low latency times to support applications such as air quality forecasting. Here we summarize the history of achievements in the field of active fire remote sensing, review the physical basis of the approaches used, the nature of the AF detection and characterization techniques deployed, and highlight some of the key current capabilities and applications. Finally, we list some important developments we believe deserve focus in future years.

景观火灾是一种普遍存在的、有些不可预测的现象，在地球的生物地球化学循环中起着重要作用。在世界范围内的许多生物群落中，火灾还提供多种生态效益，但在某些情况下也可能对生命和基础设施构成风险，导致大气温室气体浓度净增加，并导致空气质量下降，从而导致人类健康。有关景观火灾活动的准确、及时和频繁更新的信息对于提高我们对这种生物质燃烧形式的驱动因素和影响的理解以及帮助火灾管理至关重要。这些信息只能使用卫星地球观测方法提供，而主动火力遥感是所使用的关键技术之一。这种形式的地球观测基于检测生物质燃烧时发出的（主要是红外）电磁辐射的特征。自 1980 年代初以来，使用地球轨道 (LEO) 卫星进行的主动火灾 (AF) 遥感已部署在世界某些地区，以绘制景观火灾发生的位置和时间图，并从 2000 年初开始更新全球范围的信息所有人都可以轻松获得每天多次。地球静止 (GEO) 卫星提供更高频率的 AF 信息，在某些情况下每天超过 100 次，并且 LEO 和 GEO 衍生的 AF 产品现在通常包括对火灾特征的估计，例如火灾辐射功率 (FRP)输出，除了火灾检测。AF 数据在收集 EO 数据时提供与正在进行的火灾活动相关的信息，并且可以以极低的延迟时间提供这些信息，以支持空气质量预测等应用程序。在这里，我们总结了主动火灾遥感领域的成就历史，回顾了所使用方法的物理基础、AF 检测和所部署的表征技术的性质，并重点介绍了当前的一些关键能力和应用。最后，我们列出了一些我们认为未来几年值得关注的重要发展。AF 检测和表征技术的性质，并重点介绍当前的一些关键功能和应用。最后，我们列出了一些我们认为未来几年值得关注的重要发展。AF 检测和表征技术的性质，并重点介绍当前的一些关键功能和应用。最后，我们列出了一些我们认为未来几年值得关注的重要发展。