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ABoVE: Landsat-derived Burn Scar dNBR across Alaska and Canada, 1985-2015

Documentation Revision Date: 2018-07-18

Data Set Version: 1

Summary

This dataset contains differenced Normalized Burned Ratio (dNBR) at 30-m resolution calculated for burn scars from fires that occurred within the Arctic Boreal and Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Project domain in Alaska and Canada during 1985-2015. The fire perimeters were obtained from the Alaskan Interagency Coordination Center (AICC) and the Natural Resources Canada (NRC) fire occurrence datasets. Only burns with an area larger than 200-ha were included. The dNBR for each burn scar at 30-m pixel resolution was derived from pre- and post-burn Landsat 5, 7, and 8 scenes within a 5-km buffered area surrounding each burn scar using Landsat LEDAPS surface reflection image pairs.

In each fire year, 1985-2015, every burn scar was assigned a burn ID (BID) and each 30-m pixel in a burn scar was assigned that respective BID value. The BID links to a separate data file with the specific burn scar area and lists the original Landsat image pair used to calculate the dNBR for that BID. Similarly, in each fire year, every 30-m pixel in a burn scar was assigned a Landsat image pair ID (PID), indicating the original Landsat image pair that was used to calculate the dNBR in that pixel for that fire year. The PID links to a separate data file with the original Landsat image pair information.

There are 4,625 data files with this dataset. This includes 4,623 dNBR, BID, and PID data files in GeoTIFF (.tif) format and two files in comma separated (.csv) format with the BID and PID Landsat scene data utilized. The dNBR, BID, and PID data are provided in the ABoVE 30-m reference grid system and extend across 128 ABoVE grid tiles. For each dNBR data file, there is a BID data file and a PID data file for burn scars in each year (1985-2015) in the ABoVE domain. The two .csv files are BID and PID data lookup tables.

Figure 1.This figure shows the differenced Normalized Burned Ratio (dNBR) for a burn scar in 2015. The data were gridded to the 30-m ABoVE reference grid system (Loboda et al., 2017). These data are located in grid tile Bh05Bv03.

Citation

Loboda, T.V., D. Chen, J.V. Hall, and J. He. 2018. ABoVE: Landsat-derived Burn Scar dNBR across Alaska and Canada, 1985-2015. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1564

Table of Contents

  1. Data Set Overview
  2. Data Characteristics
  3. Application and Derivation
  4. Quality Assessment
  5. Data Acquisition, Materials, and Methods
  6. Data Access
  7. References

Data Set Overview

This dataset contains differenced Normalized Burned Ratio (dNBR) at 30-m resolution calculated for burn scars from fires that occurred within the Arctic Boreal and Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Project domain in Alaska and Canada during 1985-2015. The fire perimeters were obtained from the Alaskan Interagency Coordination Center (AICC) and the Natural Resources Canada (NRC) fire occurrence datasets. Only burns with an area larger than 200-ha were included. The dNBR for each burn scar at 30-m pixel resolution was derived from pre- and post-burn Landsat 5, 7, and 8 scenes within a 5-km buffered area surrounding each burn scar using Landsat LEDAPS surface reflection image pairs.

In each fire year, 1985-2015, every burn scar was assigned a burn ID (BID) and each 30-m pixel in a burn scar was assigned that respective BID value. The BID links to a separate data file with the specific burn scar area and lists the original Landsat image pair used to calculate the dNBR for that BID. Similarly, in each fire year, every 30-m pixel in a burn scar was assigned a Landsat image pair ID (PID), indicating the original Landsat image pair that was used to calculate the dNBR in that pixel for that fire year. The PID links to a separate data file with the original Landsat image pair information.

Project: Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment

The Arctic-Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) is a NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program field campaign based in Alaska and western Canada between 2016 and 2021. Research for ABoVE links field-based, process-level studies with geospatial data products derived from airborne and satellite sensors, providing a foundation for improving the analysis and modeling capabilities needed to understand and predict ecosystem responses and societal implications.

Acknowledgments

This research received funding from the NASA Terrestrial Ecology Program, grant number NNX13AK44G.

Data Characteristics

Spatial Coverage:  ABoVE core domain in Alaska and Canada

ABoVE Reference Locations:

Domain: Core ABoVE

State/territory: Alaska and the Northwest Territories, CA

 ABoVE grid cells (128):        

Bh01v03 Bh05v04 Bh08v07 Bh10v13 Bh12v14
Bh01v04 Bh05v05 Bh08v08 Bh10v14 Bh12v15
Bh01v05 Bh05v06 Bh08v09 Bh10v15 Bh12v16
Bh01v06 Bh06v01 Bh08v10 Bh10v16 Bh13v08
Bh01v07 Bh06v02 Bh08v11 Bh11v05 Bh13v09
Bh02v02 Bh06v03 Bh08v13 Bh11v06 Bh13v10
Bh02v03 Bh06v04 Bh09v04 Bh11v07 Bh13v11
Bh02v04 Bh06v05 Bh09v05 Bh11v08 Bh13v12
Bh02v05 Bh06v06 Bh09v06 Bh11v09 Bh13v13
Bh02v06 Bh06v07 Bh09v07 Bh11v10 Bh13v14
Bh03v03 Bh06v08 Bh09v08 Bh11v11 Bh13v15
Bh03v04 Bh07v02 Bh09v09 Bh11v12 Bh14v08
Bh03v05 Bh07v03 Bh09v10 Bh11v13 Bh14v09
Bh03v06 Bh07v04 Bh09v11 Bh11v14 Bh14v10
Bh03v07 Bh07v05 Bh09v12 Bh11v15 Bh14v11
Bh04v01 Bh07v06 Bh09v13 Bh11v16 Bh14v12
Bh04v02 Bh07v07 Bh09v14 Bh12v05 Bh14v13
Bh04v03 Bh07v08 Bh10v05 Bh12v06 Bh14v14
Bh04v04 Bh07v09 Bh10v06 Bh12v07 Bh14v15
Bh04v05 Bh07v10 Bh10v07 Bh12v08 Bh15v11
Bh04v06 Bh08v02 Bh10v08 Bh12v09 Bh15v12
Bh04v07 Bh08v03 Bh10v09 Bh12v10 Bh15v13
Bh05v01 Bh08v04 Bh10v10 Bh12v11 Bh15v14
Bh05v02 Bh08v05 Bh10v11 Bh12v12 Bh15v15
Bh05v03 Bh08v06 Bh10v12 Bh12v13 Bh16v11
        Bh16v12
        Bh16v13
        Bh16v14

 

Spatial Resolution: 30-m

Temporal Coverage: 1985-01-01 to 2015-12-31

Temporal Resolution: annual

Study Areas (All latitude and longitude given in decimal degrees)

Site Westernmost Longitude Easternmost Longitude Northernmost Latitude Southernmost Latitude
Alaska and Canada -168.4236111 - 101.7455556 71.35583333 50.25417

 

Data File Information

There are a total of 4,625 data files with this dataset. This includes 4,623 dNBR, BID, and PID data files in GeoTIFF (.tif) format and two files in comma-separated format (.csv) with the original Landsat image pair information used to calculate the dNBR at each pixel in each fire year and in an ABoVE grid tile.

  • dNBR values were calculated for each burn scar in each fire year
  • Landsat image pair ID (PID) files indicate the original Landsat image pair that was used to calculate the dNBR at each pixel in each fire year
  • BID files contain the burn IDs (BID) for each fire scar in each fire year. Each BID is a unique 4-digit number assigned to an individual burn scar in the form of XYYY. Where X is 1 or 2, representing burn scars from AICC or NRC, respectively, and YYY is a three-digit ID unique identifier for a given burn scar within a fire year

File names

The files are named according to the following naming convention: ABoVE.XXX.YYYY.BhZvZ.003.proddatetime.tif

where:

ABoVE – refers to the campaign

XXX – refers to the file product type: dNBR, PID, or BID

YYYY – refers to the year of burn: 1985 - 2015

BhZvZ – refers to the grid B tile ID, where “Z” is a number (see Fig. 2,  the ABOVE grid, and Loboda et al. 2017)

003 – refers to the version of the product

proddatetime – refers to the production date and time (YYYYDDDHHMMSS)

Example file names:

ABoVE.dNBR.2015.Bh16v14.003.2018020230204.tif

ABoVE.PID.2015.Bh16v14.003.2018020230204.tif

ABoVE.BID.2015.Bh16v14.003.2018020230204.tif

 

ABoVE B grid

Figure 2. The ABoVE 30-m reference grid. The tile Bh16v14, in the file name examples above, is indicated with the yellow circle in the map (Loboda et al., 2017).

 

GeoTiff files

Table 1. Properties of the GeoTIFF files

File type Data Type Valid Range (min to max) Fill value
dNBR 16-bit signed integer -2999 to 2993 -3000
BID 16-bit signed integer 1000 to 3000 0
PID 16-bit signed integer 0 to 242 0

 

BID and PID lookup-tables in .csv format

Two .csv files are provided with this dataset, containing BID and PID reference lookup-tables.

Burn ID (BID)

Every burn scar was assigned a burn ID (BID) and each 30-m pixel in a burn scar was assigned that respective BID value.

This file (*.csv) provides the areas of the fire scars, pre-burn and post burn path/row, year, and date of Landsat imagery used in the study. YYYY = year from 1985-2015.

Example file name:  dNBR_reference_table_YYYY_BID.csv

 

Table 2. BID file information

Column Heading Units/format Description
fire_year YYYY Year of fire from AICC and NRC sources
BID XYYY BID is a unique 4-digit number assigned to an individual burn scar in the form of XYYY.  Where X is 1 or 2, representing burn scars from AICC or NRC sources, respectively. YYY is a three-digit ID unique identifier for a given burn scar within a fire year.
region   Alaska or Canada
area_ha ha Burn scar area
satellite_pre-burn_pair1   Landsat 5, Landsat 7, or Landsat 8
path_row_pre-burn_pair1 PPPRRR Path/Row of Landsat pre-burn image used to calculate the dNBR. Note leading zero.
image_year_pre-burn_pair1 YYYY Year pre-burn image acquired
image_julian_date_pre-burn_pair1 DDD Julian date pre-burn image acquired
image_cal_date_pre-burn_pair1 DD/MM/YYYY Calendar date pre-burn image acquired
satellite_post-burn_pair1   Landsat 5, Landsat 7, or Landsat 8
path_row_post-burn_pair1 PPPRRR Path/Row of Landsat post-burn image used to calculate the dNBR 
image_year_post-burn_pair1 YYYY Year post-burn image acquired
image_julian_date_post-burn_pair1 DDD Julian date post-burn image acquired
image_cal_date_post-burn_pair1 DD/MM/YYYY Calendar date post-burn image acquired
satellite_pre-burn_pair2   Landsat 5, Landsat 7, or Landsat 8
path_row_pre-burn_pair2 PPPRRR Path/Row of Landsat pre-burn image used to calculate the dNBR. Note leading zero.
image_year_pre-burn_pair2 YYYY Year pre-burn image acquired
image_julian_date_pre-burn_pair2 DDD Julian date pre-burn image acquired
image_cal_date_pre-burn_pair2 DD/MM/YYYY Calendar date pre-burn image acquired
satellite_post-burn_pair2   Landsat 5, Landsat 7, or Landsat 8
path_row_post-burn_pair2 PPPRRR Path/Row of Landsat post-burn image used to calculate the dNBR. Note leading zero.
image_year_post-burn_pair2 YYYY Year post-burn image acquired
image_julian_date_post-burn_pair2 DDD Julian date post-burn image acquired
image_cal_date_post-burn_pair2 DD/MM/YYYY Calendar date post-burn image acquired
Notes    

 

Landsat image pair ID (PID)

In each fire year, every 30-m pixel in a burn scar was assigned a Landsat image pair ID (PID), indicating the original Landsat image pair that was used to calculate the dNBR in that pixel for that fire year. Landsat images from 1984 were used also to derive the 1985 GeoTIFFs and are included in the file; there are no data files for 1984.

This file (*.csv) provides a cross reference from the assigned Landsat image pair ID (PID) to the respective pre-burn and post burn path, row, year, and date of Landsat imagery used in the study. YYYY=year from 1985-2015.

Example file name:  dNBR_reference_table_YYYY_PID.csv DD/MM/YYYY

Table 3. PID file information

Column Heading Units/format Description
image_year_pre-burn YYYY Year pre-burn image acquired
PID   In each fire year, every 30-m pixel in a burn scar was assigned a Landsat image pair ID (PID), indicating the original Landsat image pair that was used to calculate the dNBR in that pixel for that fire year.
landsat_pre-burn   Landsat 5, Landsat 7, or Landsat 8
path_row_pre-burn PPPRRR Path/Row of Landsat pre-burn image used to calculate the dNBR. Note leading zero.
image_julian_date_pre-burn DDD Julian date pre-burn image acquired
image_cal_date_pre-burn DD/MM/YYYY Calendar date pre-burn image acquired
landsat_post-burn   Landsat 5, Landsat 7, or Landsat 8
path_row_post-burn PPPRRR Path/Row of Landsat post-burn image used to calculate the dNBR. Note leading zero.
image_year_post-burn YYYY Year post-burn image acquired
image_julian_date_post-burn DDD Julian date post-burn image acquired
image_cal_date_post-burn DD/MM/YYYY Calendar date post-burn image acquired

 

Companion files

There are two companion files with this dataset described below.

Table 4. Companion files

File name Description
ABoVE_Fire_Severity_dNBR.pdf A pdf of this guide document
ABoVE_Burn_Severity_Product_Users_Guide.pdf A user's guide in pdf format of the ABoVE Burn Severity Product (as sets of three-band GEOTIFF images)

Application and Derivation

These data are designed to quantify fire-induced changes in tundra with a specific aim to assess the region’s vulnerability to on-going and future environmental change and the changes to carbon cycling in this ecosystem.  

Quality Assessment

Caveats and Known Problems

For a small number of fires, the dNBR was unable to be calculated for a portion or the entirety of the fire perimeters due to a lack of valid data inputs. 

Data Acquisition, Materials, and Methods

Overview

The differenced Normalized Burned Ratio (dNBR) was calculated for each burn scar from fires that occurred within the Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Project domain in Alaska and Canada during 1985-2015. The fire perimeters were obtained from the Alaskan Interagency Coordination Center (AICC; https://fire.ak.blm.gov/) and the Natural Resources Canada (NRC; https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/) datasets. Only burns within the core ABoVE domain and whose areas are larger than 200-ha were included. 

Annual dNBR data were derived from pre- and post-burn Landsat 5, 7, and 8 scenes over the burn scars. Pre- and post-fire products used in this study were from Landsat 5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), and Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI)/Thermal Infrared Sensor (TIRS).

The annual dNBR data were gridded to the ABoVE 30-m grid system, resulting in 128 grid tiles with burn scars and derived dNBR for the study period. Data files include the specific ABoVE grid designation and the year.

Pre- and Post-burn Image Selection

The pre- and post-burn images were selected based on the following criteria:

  1. Images must contain a minimal amount of clouds and cloud shadows within the burn scars.
  2. The following combinations of the pre- and post-image pairs are allowed: OLI-OLI, TM-TM, ETM+-ETM+, TM-ETM+, ETM+-TM. The combination of OLI and non-OLI images was excluded because of the differences in band ranges between the OLI and prior sensors.
  3. The preferred acquisition date for the pre- (post-) burn images was chosen based on the following strategy: Mid-May to late-June of the year before (after) fire > early-July to mid-September (before snow onset) of the year before (after) fire > snow-free image from the year of fire before (after) fire occurs.

The Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS; https://www.mtbs.gov/) image pairs over Alaska were used as a basis for the chosen Landsat pairs over the Alaskan burn scars; however, any MTBS image pairs that did not meet our criteria were dropped and new image pairs were chosen (refer also to the companion file ABoVE_Burn_Severity_Product_Users_Guide.pdf).

dNBR Calculations

The Normalized Burn Ratio differencing (dNBR) was calculated within a 5-km buffered area surrounding each burn scar using Landsat LEDAPS (Masek et al., 2006) surface reflection image pairs:

     dNBR = NBRpre-burn – NBRpost-burn

     where,

     NBR = (near-infrared (NIR) - shortwave-infrared (SWIR)2.1) / (NIR + SWIR2.1)

The dNBR values were set to -2500 for those pixels that were affected by invalid land observations (i.e. cloud, cloud shadow, ice/snow and water) according to the QA bands associated with LEDAPS surface reflectance data. In cases where scars were in close proximity and there could have been image overlapping, the dNBR of the overlapping regions were set to the highest value at each pixel.

Data Access

These data are available through the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC).

ABoVE: Landsat-derived Burn Scar dNBR across Alaska and Canada, 1985-2015

Contact for Data Center Access Information:

References

Loboda, T.V., E.E. Hoy, and M.L. Carroll. 2017. ABoVE: Study Domain and Standard Reference Grids, Version 2. ORNL DAAC, Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA. https://doi.org/10.3334/ORNLDAAC/1527

Masek, J.G., Vermote, E.F., Saleous, N.E., Wolfe, R., Hall, F.G., Huemmrich, K.F., Feng, G., Kutler, J., & Teng-Kui, L. (2006). A Landsat surface reflectance dataset for North America, 1990-2000. Geoscience and Remote Sensing Letters, IEEE, 3, 68-72. https://doi.org/10.1109/LGRS.2005.857030