Mapping Burn Severity
Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC)
Request Data "Emergency Requests" are for an immediate post-fire Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC) map for use by BAER teams. For US Forest Service lands, follow the FS link to the to the USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center in Utah. For other requests, please follow "Other Agencies."USFS Remote Sensing Applications CenterOther Agencies. "Extended Assessments" give a more comprehensive assessment of the impact of the fire. Delayed mortality and vegetation recovery become more evident. Ideally, the post-fire imagery is acquired at peak of green during the next growing season. Click on "National Park Service" for fires on National Park Service lands. Click on "Other Agencies" for other fires.National Park ServiceOther Agencies
Product List ArcView project on CDROM (specified projection) containing: Differenced Normalized Burn Ratio image Pre-Fire Landsat Data (subset around fire area) Post-Fire Landsat Data (subset around fire area) Fire Perimeter (user-provided or digitized from Landsat) Color-Coded Burned Area Reflectance Classification, BARC Note: the BARC will denote a first approximation of the burn severity. You will need to evaluate, compare and perhaps modify the results with field knowledge.
Landsat 7 Path 42 row 28 July 27, 2000
Landsat 7 Path 42 row 28 August 28, 2000
July 27, 2000 August 28, 2000 Craig Mountain area before and after the Maloney Creek Fire
Image pre-processing – conversion of DN to reflectance values -- atmospheric correction if necessary
Normalized Burn Ratio (NBR) – A Landsat TM Radiometric Measure of Burn Severity NBR = (R4 – R7) / (R4 + R7)
Delta NBR cheat sheet