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ForestERA Metadata - Fire Hazard

Description

Abstract

This is a 90m resolution raster dataset describing heat per unit area (KJ / m2) across the western Mogollon Plateau in Arizona. It is a predictive output from the FlamMap fire-modeling program. It was created as part of the Forest Ecosystem Restoration Analysis (ForestERA) project to support landscape-scale forest restoration planning efforts by a broad group of stakeholders including federal and state agencies, academic institutions, and non-governmental entities.

Purpose

This layer was developed by the ForestERA project for use in landscape-level planning and prioritization of forest management on the western Mogollon Plateau. Since heat output is primarily related to the amount of fuels that would be burned, this layer is a good indicator of fire hazard. It was intended for use in forest planning as an index of fire hazard, or the danger presented by a burning fire.

Supplementary Information

This layer is an output from the FlamMap fire-modeling program. It is a prediction of the heat energy that would be produced by a fire as it burned across a particular part of the landscape. Since heat output is primarily related to the amount of fuels that would be burned, this layer is a good indicator of fire hazard. The units of this layer are in KJ / m2, but this can be easily converted to BTU / ft2 by multiplying by 0.098.

Fire behavior models require eight inputs that are considered part of a fuel hazard model. We have derived the first three (slope, aspect and elevation) from a 30m resolution Digital Elevation Model (DEM) created by the United States Geological Survey. Four more (canopy closure, mean tree height, crown base height, and crown bulk density) are forest structural characteristics that have been developed as part of the ForestERA project. The final layer is a ground fuels layer that was created as part of the ForestERA project using a dominant overstory vegetation map derived from satellite imagery and the associated Anderson fuel models.

In addition to the layer inputs above, the user must define live and dead fuel moistures, wind direction, and wind speed. We used fuel moistures approximating 95th percentile drought conditions and sustained wind speeds of 30 mph (representative of extreme fire weather) for this output. We used wind blowing from the southwest (225 degrees) for this outpur, since this is the direction of the prevailing wind during the fire season in this region.

These data are intended for regional analyses over spatial extents on the order of tens to hundreds of thousands of acres, and were not developed for use at finer spatial scales, although they may be useful for some applications at those finer scales.

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Status of the data

Complete
Data update frequency: None planned

Time period for which the data is relevant

Date and time: 2000
Description:
publication date

Publication Information

Who created the data: Forest Ecosystem Restoration Analysis Project

Date and time: February 1, 2004
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Data storage and access information

File name: heat90m
Type of data: raster digital data

Location of the data:

\\ENVSCI41\Shared\metadata_layers\grids\heat90m
Data processing environment: Microsoft Windows 2000 Version 5.0 (Build 2195)
Service Pack 4; ESRI ArcCatalog 8.1.2.671

Accessing the data

Size of the data: 2.195 MB
Data transfer size: 2.195 MB

Constraints on accessing and using the data

Access constraints: This layer may be accessed by any interested party. It is
provided by the Forest Ecosystem Restoration Analysis project, the Ecological
Restoration Institute (ERI), and Northern Arizona University (NAU).

Use constraints:
This layer is provided for public use by the ForestERA project, ERI, and NAU.
Reports, presentations, and publications in which this layer is presented or
used for analytical purposes should acknowledge the ForestERA project.

Details about this document

Contents last updated: 20040421 at time 14332700

Who completed this document

Forest Ecosystem Restoration Analysis Project
Center For Environmental Sciences and Education:
Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, Arizona 86011-5694
United States
928-523-0068 (voice)
928-523-7423 (fax)

Contact Instructions:

Contact Dr. Thomas D. Sisk or the Forest Ecosystem Restoraton Analysis Project.

Standards used to create this document

Standard name: FGDC Content Standards for Digital Geospatial Metadata
Standard version: FGDC-STD-001-1998
Time convention used in this document: local time
Metadata profiles defining additonal information
ESRI Metadata Profile: http://www.esri.com/metadata/esriprof80.html

Horizontal coordinate system

Projected coordinate system name: NAD_1983_UTM_Zone_12N
Geographic coordinate system name: GCS_North_American_1983
Details
Grid Coordinate System Name: Universal Transverse Mercator
UTM Zone Number: 12
Transverse Mercator Projection
Scale Factor at Central Meridian: 0.999600
Longitude of Central Meridian: -111.000000
Latitude of Projection Origin: 0.000000
False Easting: 500000.000000
False Northing: 0.000000

Planar Coordinate Information

Planar Distance Units: meters
Coordinate Encoding Method: row and column
Coordinate Representation
Abscissa Resolution: 90.000000
Ordinate Resolution: 90.000000

Geodetic Model

Horizontal Datum Name: North American Datum of 1983
Ellipsoid Name: Geodetic Reference System 80
Semi-major Axis: 6378137.000000
Denominator of Flattening Ratio: 298.257222
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Bounding coordinates

Horizontal
In decimal degrees
West: -113.044931
East: -109.878536
North: 35.587479
South: 34.107751
In projected or local coordinates
Left: 314687.387285
Right: 601607.387285
Top: 3938195.572581
Bottom: 3775925.572581
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Spatial data description

Raster dataset information
Raster format: ESRI GRID
SDTS raster type: Grid Cell
Number of raster bands: 1
Raster properties
Origin location: Upper Left
Has pyramids: FALSE
Has colormap: FALSE
Data compression type: Default
Display type: matrix values
Cell information
Number of cells on x-axis: 3188
Number of cells on y-axis: 1803
Number of cells on z-axis: 1
Number of bits per cell: 32
Cell Size
X distance: 90.000000
Y distance: 90.000000

No detailed attribute information is available.

Page last updated February 11, 2005