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This research primarily examines fire severity as recorded by ground and satellite measurements and the spatial complexity of fire severity. Working with Carl Key, Crystal Kolden, Jan van Wagtendonk, and others, we are examining how climate variability, climate trends, regional climate patterns and regional vegetation effect fire size, frequency, severity and heterogeneity within three western forest types. We are also examining how sub-pixel surface constituents affect the calculation of dNBR.
The study Climate impacts on burn severity in three forest ecoregions of the U.S. was selected for funding under the USGS BRD Global Change Research Program for fiscal years 2009 through 2011. The locations for this project include areas surrounding Glacier National Park in Montana, Yukon-Charlie Rivers National Reserve in Alaska, and Yosemite National Park in California.
Overall, the research aims to determine how climate variability, trends and teleconnections contribute to landscape heterogeneity of burn severity across three representative forest ecosystems of the western U.S. The historic range of variability in burn severity, as it relates to climate, is a critical missing link in current understanding of fire-climate relationships. This work differs from previous studies, based on burn data from crude perimeters, by considering the actual area burned and the magnitude of ecological affect, i.e. burn severity, to understand how climate influences heterogeneous patterns in regions where fire is an important ecological process. Building upon past and current research and applications within USGS, other DOI agencies, and the USFS, the study spatially quantifies burn severity through Landsat remote sensing, and uses available climate data to address three scientific questions:
1) How does climate variability (e.g. seasonality, temperature, precipitation) manifest spatiotemporally in patterns of burn severity; 2) How do climate teleconnections manifest spatially and temporally in large area patterns of burn severity; and 3) To what extent can we generalize impacts and trends in burn severity across the three representative western U.S. ecoregions; how are they similar, how do they differ?
Overall, results will lead to understanding how climate controls burn heterogeneity and subsequent fire effects in western U.S. forest ecosystems.
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Pre-fire image of a controlled burn near Crane Flat, Yosemite National Park. ASTER derived spectral mixture analysis to investigate fuel loading. Image 8/2/2002 (north is vertical). R=NPV, G=GV, B=RMS Error. Black lines portray daily fire extent of the controlled burn. |
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everywhere |
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Climate Matters |
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Yosemite National Park, California |
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Climate Impacts on Burn Severity |