Potential Data Types and Sources

This page lists the data needs to validate model information of each type, including specific variables of interest, as well as known types of information available.  Not all of this information will be gathered or used by SEMIP.   Listed by output level.

Basic Fire Information

Needed:  fire size, location, and type

Variables (data) we are looking for:

Fire size, fire location, fire perimeter per time, total fire perimeter
Management type (RX, WF, other)

Types of information available:

Ground:   ICS 209, Helicopter perimeters, GIS perimeter maps, RX fire plan maps
Satellite:  HMS, MODIS - fire detect, burn scar, GOES, LANDSAT burn scar (RSAC)

Fuel Loadings

Needed:  fuel information on available fuels at time of fire by class of fuels

Variables (data) we are looking for:

Vegetation species + typical vegetation species loadings
Fuels on the ground by size class (dead) and type/location (live)
Fuel moisture

Types of information available:

Plots:   Forest Inventory and Analysis (FIA) + other vegetation plots
Ground Maps:  Forest health??
Satellite:  LANDSAT, MODIS

Total Consumption

Needed: total fuel consumption at end of burn

Variables (data) we are looking for:

Total consumption by size class
Proxy measures of consumption, eg. burn severity or Fire Radiative Power (FRP)
albedo before / after effects

Types of information available:

Plots:   specific campaigns done to investigate total fuel consumption (e.g. Ottmar);  long-term research forests / plots that experience fire (e.g. Tall Timbers, FIA plots, or Long Term Ecological Research (LTER) plots)
Maps:  Forest assessment maps
Satellite:  LANDSAT, MODIS burn scar / intensity;  GOES / MODIS radiance

Time Profile of Consumption

Needed:  fuel consumption by hour

Variables (data) we are looking for:

Time series consumption (if possible?)
Proxy measures of consumption, eg. burn severity or FRP time series
in-situ measures (eg. flux towers)
Proxy measures of consumption related to local weather (e.g. wind speed, humidity)

Types of information available:

Specific RX and Plot burns:  Canada WF plots? , RX experimental burns?
Satellite:  GOES radiance (only satellite capable of fast enough measures)
Aircraft:  Time series hyperspectral imagery from Ikanos Predator, Riggins flights

Speciated Emissions

Needed:  emissions factor values by species to translate fire consumption by hour into flaming, smoldering, and residual into speciated emissions

Variables (data) we are looking for:

Emissions by species (total and by fire phase)

Types of information available:

Lab experiments
Field in-situ measurements

Vertical Plume Profiles

Needed:  vertical profile of plume concentrations by hour

Variables (data) we are looking for:

Plume height measurements (aircraft and ground)
Height of bottom of plume
Photographs of plume
Vertical profiles (aircraft, ground and satellite LIDAR, satellite optical parallax view)

Types of information available:

Ground:  LIDAR field data
Aircraft:  In-situ campaigns (e.g. NOAA)
Satellite:  CALIPSO, MISR

Total Column Smoke

Needed:  full vertical and horizontal in-situ smoke plume speciated concentrations over time

Variables (data) we are looking for:

Plume measurements of horizontal and vertical spread (4-D plume evolution)
Particulate matter vertical profiles 
Other species vertical profiles (O3, NOx, VOC)
Proxy measures of concentrations:  Aerosol Optical Depth (AOD), visible plume spread

Types of information available:

Aircraft:  in plume observations
Satellite:  visual plume (e.g. MODIS, HMS), AOD (MODIS, GASP, MISR), OMI Aerosol Index

Ground Concentrations

Needed:  full spatial distribution of smoke including by species over time

Variables (data) we are looking for:

Particulate matter surface concentrations
Other species surface concentrations and vertical profiles (O3, NOx, VOC)
Proxy measures of concentrations:  e.g. horizontal optical depth, visible smoke, smell of smoke.

Types of information available:

Ground:  in-situ networks (e.g. AirNow/other); field campaigns (e.g. USFS/BLM mobile monitors)
Mobile:  in plume observations close to ground, e.g. in a moving trailer