Spatial fuel data products of the LANDFIRE Project

International Journal of Wildland Fire
By: , and 

Links

Abstract

The Landscape Fire and Resource Management Planning Tools (LANDFIRE) Project is mapping wildland fuels, vegetation, and fire regime characteristics across the United States. The LANDFIRE project is unique because of its national scope, creating an integrated product suite at 30-m spatial resolution and complete spatial coverage of all lands within the 50 states. Here we describe development of the LANDFIRE wildland fuels data layers for the conterminous 48 states: surface fire behavior fuel models, canopy bulk density, canopy base height, canopy cover, and canopy height. Surface fire behavior fuel models are mapped by developing crosswalks to vegetation structure and composition created by LANDFIRE. Canopy fuels are mapped using regression trees relating field-referenced estimates of canopy base height and canopy bulk density to satellite imagery, biophysical gradients and vegetation structure and composition data. Here we focus on the methods and data used to create the fuel data products, discuss problems encountered with the data, provide an accuracy assessment, demonstrate recent use of the data during the 2007 fire season, and discuss ideas for updating, maintaining and improving LANDFIRE fuel data products.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Spatial fuel data products of the LANDFIRE Project
Series title International Journal of Wildland Fire
DOI 10.1071/WF08086
Volume 18
Issue 3
Year Published 2009
Language English
Publisher CSIRO
Contributing office(s) Earth Resources Observation and Science (EROS) Center
Description 18 p.
First page 250
Last page 267
Google Analytic Metrics Metrics page
Additional publication details