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Rapid Refresh Forest Canopy Base Height

Canopy base height (CBH) describes the average height from the ground to a forest stand’s canopy bottom. Specifically, it is the lowest height in a stand at which there is a sufficient amount of forest canopy fuel to propagate fire vertically into the canopy. Geospatial data describing canopy base height provides information for fire behavior models, such as FARSITE (Finney 1998), to determine areas in which a surface fire is likely to transition to a crown fire (VanWagner 1977, 1993). The Canopy Base Height layer is generated using a predictive modeling approach that relates Landsat imagery and spatially explicit biophysical gradients to calculated values of CBH from field training sites. Because of model requirements, these data are provided for forested areas only. The units of measurement for the LANDFIRE Canopy Base Height layer are meters * 10.

These data were refined for western zones based upon comments obtained from fuel and fire behavior specialists. Moreover, these data were updated to reflect the effects from recent (1999 to 2007) wildland fires. (Obtain Rapid Refresh Fire Perimeter Data.)

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Finney, M. A. 1998. FARSITE: Fire Area Simulator-model development and evaluation. Res. Pap. RMRS-RP-4, Ogden, UT: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 47 p.

Van Wagner, C. E. 1977. Conditions for the start and spread of crownfire. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 7:23-24.

Van Wagner, C. E. 1993. Prediction of crown fire behavior in two stands of jack pine. Canadian Journal Forest Research 23:442-449.