HR: 0830h
AN: B41C-0887    [PDF]
TI: NATIONAL FIRE FUELS AND RISKS ASSESSMENT USING REMOTE SENSING AND ECOLOGICAL MODELING: PROTOTYPE RESULTS
AU: * Zhu, Z
EM: zhu@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, EROS Data Center, 47914 252nd Street, Sioux Falls, SD 57198 United States
AU: Rollins, M
EM: mrollins@fs.fed.us
AF: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory, Missoula, MT 59807 United States
AB: Hazardous fuel reduction, ecosystem rehabilitation and restoration, and firefighting safety, are land management priorities emphasized by recent national fire policies such as the National Fire Plan. Implementation of these policies requires geospatial data of vegetation conditions, fire fuels, risks, and ecosystem status developed consistently nationwide that can be used at multiple scales (i.e., local, regional, and national). A new research and development project called LANDFIRE has been conducted to develop an integrated methodology to produce geospatial fire data and predictive models for the land management community and a broad range of other applications. Main deliverables include mapped potential and existing vegetation types and structure variables, various biophysical data layers, fire fuels models, fire risk layers, as well as state-of-the-art computer models for assessing fire risk, behavior and effects. In this presentation, we will review research results and findings of the LANDFIRE project using results from a prototype study covering central Utah Uinta and Wasatch ecosystems. Particularly we will describe how a consistent and operational vegetation mapping component may be achieved by integrating machine-learning algorithms, field reference data, satellite imagery, and ecologically significant biophysical variables. We will discuss how remotely sensed vegetation cover types and structure can be successfully converted to fire fuel classes and risk layers which are necessary input into fire behavior and fire effect models. Finally we will discuss challenges and opportunities for national implementation of the methodology.
DE: 0315 Biosphere/atmosphere interactions
DE: 1640 Remote sensing
DE: 1699 General or miscellaneous
DE: 4805 Biogeochemical cycles (1615)
SC: Biogeosciences [B]
MN: 2003 Fall Meeting