Direct Download (Raster Data Gateway)

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- for example, for the 2024 TCA assessment, MTBS data from 1984-2022 and CBI data from 2023 was used. 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