LANDFIRE Updated Products Descriptions

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Data Products ›› Updated Products ›› Rapid Refresh

Rapid Refresh Forest Canopy Cover

Forest canopy cover describes the percent cover of the tree canopy in a stand. Specifically, canopy cover describes the vertical projection of the tree canopy onto an imaginary horizontal surface representing the ground’s surface. A spatially explicit map of canopy cover supplies information to fire behavior models, such as FARSITE (Finney 1998), to determine surface fuel shading for calculating dead fuel moisture and for calculating wind reductions. The Canopy Cover layer is generated using a predictive modeling approach that relates Landsat imagery and spatially explicit biophysical gradients to calculated values of average canopy cover from field training sites and digital orthophoto quadrangles. The units of measurement for the LANDFIRE Canopy Cover layer are percent.

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.