Presenters include:
Todd Hawbaker, Ph.D., US Geological Survey, Denver, CO
Casey Teske, Ph.D., Tall Timbers Research Station, Tallahassee, FL
Complete and accurate burned area data are needed to document patterns of fires, to quantify their drivers, and to assess the impacts on human and natural systems. Unfortunately, existing fire occurrence datasets are known to be incomplete. In response, we developed the Landsat Burned Area BA algorithm that identifies burned areas in dense time-series of Landsat data and used it to map burned areas across the conterminous United States. This presentation will describe the Landsat Burned Area algorithm and products. Additionally, applications using the burned area products will be covered. Tall Timbers staff are finalizing a statewide project to develop a spatial database of fire extent in Florida that will be integrated into further analyses specific to landscape conservation and monitoring. One of the outcomes of this database is to advance spatial data resolution and tracking of fire regimes in Florida. The extents of fires were derived using the Landsat Burned Area products. Spatial analyses characterizing fire history and fire regime metrics based on fires larger than 2.5 acres are currently in progress. Examples of fire management applications will be discussed.