The TCA Uncharacteristic Disturbance Indicator identifies locations that have had recent catastrophic disturbance including uncharacteristically severe wildfires resulting in needs for reforestation, revegetation or other restoration work. Potential exists to include other major disturbances (e.g., landslides). The LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings (BpS) raster datasets (LF16_BPS_200) were combined with the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) data (1984-assessment year) and Composite Burn Index (Parks et. al 2018) data for the year prior to the assessment year derived from NIFC Fire Perimeters (1000 ac West, 500 ac East) to identify areas that have experienced unnaturally severe wildfires in the recent past (1984-assessment year). The CBI data serves as a bridge until MTBS data are available. The Moderate Severity variable represents areas mapped with a dominant condition of mixed-severity fire and had a high severity MTBS fire pixel in that location. Raster data are binary: (1) “unnaturally severe fire” or (0) other. 30m MTBS LANDFIRE (expected fire severity) , CBI (calculated within fire perimeters from National Interagency Fire Center with methods adapted from Parks et al. 2019.

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Objective: The TCA Uncharacteristic Disturbance Indicator identifies locations that have had recent catastrophic disturbance including uncharacteristically severe wildfires resulting in needs for reforestation, revegetation or other restoration work. Potential exists to include other major disturbances (e.g., landslides).

Data: The LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings (BpS) raster datasets (LF16_BPS_200) were combined with the Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) data (1984-most recent) and Composite Burn Index (Parks et al. 2018) data for the year prior to the assessment year derived from NIFC Fire Perimeters (1000 ac West, 500 ac East) to identify areas that have experienced unnaturally severe wildfires in the recent past, since 1984. The CBI data serves as a bridge until MTBS data are available. The “Moderate severity” metric (layer) represents areas mapped with a dominant condition of mixed severity fire (based on BpS) but had a high severity MTBS fire in that location.

Data Format: Raster data are binary: (1) “unnaturally severe fire” or (0) other

Spatial Resolution: 30m

Source data: MTBS fire severity, expected fire severity , CBI methods, National Interagency Fire Center Perimeters (for CBI)

Additional Resources:

Details on Method Changes and Source Data Versions

Overview of the Terrestrial Condition Assessment: TCA Hubsite or Landfire Office Hour Presentation

Explore the results of the most recent assessment: TCA Interactive Data Viewer

Learn more about the TCA KPI: Dashboard link when available