Expanded Access to Real-Time Burn Severity Mapping
Connecting Satellite Data to On-Ground Observations
Scientists assess burn severity by collecting soil and charcoal samples after a wild fire
Satellite Insights
Landsat and Sentinel-2 Support Burned Area Mapping
Visualizing Burn Severity
Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC) maps highlight areas of varying burn severity
Near real-time burn severity maps are created by request to support Burned Area Emergency Response Teams managed by the US Forest Service and Department of the Interior agencies. This project expands the availability of these data for additional post-fire landscapes to support post-fire stabilization and rehabilitation activities of local, state, tribal, and non-land management federal agencies.
Background
Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams rapidly assess the effects of fire on vegetation, soils and watershed function and develop a plan with actions to stabilize the fire affected landscape and mitigate post-fire hazards. The BAER Imagery Support program tracks fire progression, satellite overpasses/acquisition schedules and generates Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC) products for requesting incidents. The BARC provides a preliminary estimate of burn severity used by BAER teams to assess post-fire conditions, develop a Soil Burn Severity (SBS) product, and create a BAER emergency response plan with prescribed treatments for implementation. BARC data products may or may not be publicly available. SBS layers, which have been field verified by the BAER team, are usually distributed through the interagency Burn Severity Portal (https://burnseverity.cr.usgs.gov).
For fires occurring on non-federal lands, or where no federal BAER team has been requested, there has been a gap in availability of near real-time burn severity data to guide important hazard mitigation and landscape recovery efforts. This project, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, through the Department of the Interior Office of Wildland Fire, fills that gap by making BARC products available by request to local, state, tribal, and non-land management federal (e.g. FEMA) agencies. Existing systems for requesting, producing, and distributing burn severity data are being leveraged to ensure compatibility and efficiency in fulfilling data needs.
Objectives and Methods
This project provides near real-time burn severity mapping support for post-fire incidents where a federal BAER team has not been deployed. Existing systems are utilized for managing data requests. Approved users can utilize the Request for Fire Mapping system (https://burnseverity.cr.usgs.gov/rfmapp/baer) to view existing data requests, log a new data request, and monitor the status of each request. Analysts at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center receive the requests and utilize existing tools and systems to create the BARC data. The same process used to support BAER team requests is also utilized for these data requests. Once complete, the data are provided to the requesting users and eventually released to the interagency Burn Severity Portal (https://burnseverity.cr.usgs.gov) for public distribution unless specifically requested otherwise.
BARC severity layers are created by first calculating spectral indices from pre- and post-fire satellite imagery that are sensitive to changes caused by fire. Images are typically used from the Landsat and Sentinel-2 platforms though other sensors may also be utilized as needed. Spectral bands from the near- and mid-infrared wavelength regions are typically used to detect burn severity as they have been found to provide the best discrimination of fire effects on the vegetation and soils. The two images are then subtracted showing the difference between them which is then thresholded into burn severity classes based on visual inspection of the imagery and landscape characteristics. Field crews typically observe burn severity effects at multiple point samples within a burned area and use those data to adjust thresholds and produce Soil Burn Severity layers.
Available Data
Publicly available datasets for the current and previous fire years can be accessed from:
Near real-time burn severity maps are created by request to support Burned Area Emergency Response Teams managed by the US Forest Service and Department of the Interior agencies. This project expands the availability of these data for additional post-fire landscapes to support post-fire stabilization and rehabilitation activities of local, state, tribal, and non-land management federal agencies.
Background
Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams rapidly assess the effects of fire on vegetation, soils and watershed function and develop a plan with actions to stabilize the fire affected landscape and mitigate post-fire hazards. The BAER Imagery Support program tracks fire progression, satellite overpasses/acquisition schedules and generates Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC) products for requesting incidents. The BARC provides a preliminary estimate of burn severity used by BAER teams to assess post-fire conditions, develop a Soil Burn Severity (SBS) product, and create a BAER emergency response plan with prescribed treatments for implementation. BARC data products may or may not be publicly available. SBS layers, which have been field verified by the BAER team, are usually distributed through the interagency Burn Severity Portal (https://burnseverity.cr.usgs.gov).
For fires occurring on non-federal lands, or where no federal BAER team has been requested, there has been a gap in availability of near real-time burn severity data to guide important hazard mitigation and landscape recovery efforts. This project, funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, through the Department of the Interior Office of Wildland Fire, fills that gap by making BARC products available by request to local, state, tribal, and non-land management federal (e.g. FEMA) agencies. Existing systems for requesting, producing, and distributing burn severity data are being leveraged to ensure compatibility and efficiency in fulfilling data needs.
Objectives and Methods
This project provides near real-time burn severity mapping support for post-fire incidents where a federal BAER team has not been deployed. Existing systems are utilized for managing data requests. Approved users can utilize the Request for Fire Mapping system (https://burnseverity.cr.usgs.gov/rfmapp/baer) to view existing data requests, log a new data request, and monitor the status of each request. Analysts at the USGS Earth Resources Observation and Science Center receive the requests and utilize existing tools and systems to create the BARC data. The same process used to support BAER team requests is also utilized for these data requests. Once complete, the data are provided to the requesting users and eventually released to the interagency Burn Severity Portal (https://burnseverity.cr.usgs.gov) for public distribution unless specifically requested otherwise.
BARC severity layers are created by first calculating spectral indices from pre- and post-fire satellite imagery that are sensitive to changes caused by fire. Images are typically used from the Landsat and Sentinel-2 platforms though other sensors may also be utilized as needed. Spectral bands from the near- and mid-infrared wavelength regions are typically used to detect burn severity as they have been found to provide the best discrimination of fire effects on the vegetation and soils. The two images are then subtracted showing the difference between them which is then thresholded into burn severity classes based on visual inspection of the imagery and landscape characteristics. Field crews typically observe burn severity effects at multiple point samples within a burned area and use those data to adjust thresholds and produce Soil Burn Severity layers.
Available Data
Publicly available datasets for the current and previous fire years can be accessed from: