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USGS · 70043370

Towards integration of GLAS data into a national fuels mapping program

Birgit E. Peterson·Kurtis Nelson·Bruce Wylie
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Abstract

Comprehensive canopy structure and fuel data are critical for understanding and modeling wildland fire. The LANDFIRE project produces such data nationwide based on a collection of field observations, Landsat imagery, and other geospatial data. Where field data are not available, alternate strategies are being investigated. In this study, vegetation structure data available from GLAS were used to fill this data gap for the Yukon Flats Ecoregion of interior Alaska. The GLAS-derived structure and fuel layers and the original LANDFIRE layers were subsequently used as inputs into a fire behavior model to determine what effect the revised inputs would have on the model outputs. The outputs showed that inclusion of the GLAS data enabled better landscape-level characterization of vegetation structure and therefore enabled a broader wildland fire modeling capability. The results of this work underscore how GLAS data can be incorporated into LANDFIRE canopy structure and fuel mapping.

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Photogrammetric Engineering and Remote SensingArticle
90° N90° S · 180° W ← longitude → 180° E
Source-reported bounding extent: 65.47° to 67.47° latitude; -149.55° to -142.43° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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BibTeXRIS

Birgit E. Peterson, Kurtis Nelson, Bruce Wylie. 2013. Towards integration of GLAS data into a national fuels mapping program. https://pubs.usgs.gov/publication/70043370

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