@article {bnh-6000, title = {Globe-LFMC, a global plant water status database for vegetation ecophysiology and wildfire applications}, journal = {Scientific Data}, volume = {6}, year = {2019}, month = {08/2019}, abstract = {

Globe-LFMC is an extensive global database of live fuel moisture content (LFMC) measured from 1,383 sampling sites in 11 countries: Argentina, Australia, China, France, Italy, Senegal, Spain, South Africa, Tunisia, United Kingdom and the United States of America. The database contains 161,717 individual records based on in situ destructive samples used to measure LFMC, representing the amount of water in plant leaves per unit of dry matter. the primary goal of the database is to calibrate and validate remote sensing algorithms used to predict LFMC. However, this database is also relevant for the calibration and validation of dynamic global vegetation models, eco-physiological models of plant water stress as well as understanding the physiological drivers of spatiotemporal variation in LFMC at local, regional and global scales. Globe-LFMC should be useful for studying LFMC trends in response to environmental change and LFMC influence on wildfire occurrence, wildfire behavior, and overall vegetation health.

}, keywords = {database, Emergency management, land management, Natural disasters, Wildfire spread}, doi = {https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-019-0164-9}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41597-019-0164-9.epdf?author_access_token=HISJcfE-VovHPab3al2NwNRgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0OARKV_7w7xO9p9PGwHd2zKbrs5f-VkYE5AC2lYTydBxaTKy0JaWSgXKUWz0U-fruuzViNrn1JJFl8mARAjGudmQfIcQsd98fM0zv-fk4bXxA\%3D\%3D}, author = {Marta Yebra and Gianluca Scortechini and Abdulbaset Badi and Maria Eugenia Beget and Matthias M. Boer and Ross Bradstock and Emilio Chuvieco and F. Mark Danson and Philip Dennison and Victor Resco de Dios and Carlos M. Di Bella and Greg Forsyth and Philip Frost and Mariano Garcia and Abdelaziz Hamdi and Binbin He and Matt Jolly and Tineke Kraaij and Pillar Martin and Florent Mouillot and Glenn J Newnham and Rachael Nolan and Grazia Pellizzaro and Yi Qi and Xingwen Quan and David Ria{\~n}o and Dar Roberts and Momadou Sow and Susan Ustin} } @article {BF-3175, title = {Exploiting three dimensional vegetation structure to map wildland extent}, journal = {Remote Sensing of Environment}, volume = {123}, year = {2012}, month = {8/2012}, pages = {155 - 162}, abstract = {Wildland and wilderness refer to areas of land which have been subject to little or no modification by human activity. These areas are important due to their role as wildlife habitats, the contributions they make to air and water quality and for human recreation. However, the intermingling of wildland and homes also increases the risk to life and property through wildfires. Management of this risk requires current and detailed knowledge of the spatial extent of wildland. What constitutes wildland vegetation is often difficult to define and may be influenced by both the horizontal continuity and vertical structure. We present a method to map wildland vegetation based on a combination of a vertically stratified cover threshold and spatial morphology. To test its practical application, the method was applied to airborne lidar data collected prior to a major wildfire that occurred in Australia in 2009. Distance between the lidar defined wildland extent and homes impacted by the fire was assessed and compared to previously published data using manual delineation of wildland extent. Results showed that the proportion of homes destroyed at the wildland boundary was greater than reported in previous fires and that there was an exponential decline in the proportion of homes destroyed as a function of distances to wildland. Although the method is objective the extent of wildland depends on the parameters which define thresholds of cover and lateral extent and connectivity. This highlights the need for a clear definition of wildland that can be used to determine extent using objective methods such as those described, whether this is in the context of quantifying wildfire vulnerability or other related applications such as ecological assessment and monitoring.}, issn = {00344257}, doi = {10.1016/j.rse.2012.02.026}, author = {Glenn J Newnham and Siggins, Anders S. and Blanchi, Raphaele and Culvenor, Darius S. and Justin Leonard and Mashford, John S.} } @article {BF-2586, title = {Relative Greenness Index for assessing curing of grassland fuel}, journal = {Remote Sensing of Environment}, volume = {115}, year = {2011}, month = {6/2011}, pages = {1456 - 1463}, abstract = {Knowledge of the proportion of live and dead herbaceous fuel in grasslands is important in determining fire danger. This paper examines the Relative Greenness approach for quantifying these live and dead proportions. Relative Greenness places the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) in the context of a time series of measurements. The parameters used to describe the temporal distribution of NDVI and the time interval over which this distribution is assessed impact Relative Greenness and the inferred characteristics of the vegetation. In this paper, the Relative Greenness approach was investigated using different NDVI distribution parameters derived from eight-day composites of surface reflectance from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We assessed the accuracy of Relative Greenness for predicting the degree of curing (equivalent to the dead proportion of herbaceous fuel) measured at 25 grassland sites in Australia from 2005 to 2009. Results showed that Relative Greenness explained a greater proportion of the variance and provided a more accurate estimate of the degree of curing than linear regression against NDVI. Relative Greenness was further improved using alternative parameters of the NDVI distribution and by selecting an appropriate time interval over which this distribution was assessed.}, doi = {10.1016/j.rse.2011.02.005 }, author = {Glenn J Newnham and Verbesselt, Jan and Ian F Grant and Stuart AJ Anderson} } @article {BF-2555, title = {Improved Methods for Assessment and Prediction of Grassland Curing Satellite Based Curing Methods and Mapping - final report}, year = {2010}, abstract = {The degree of grassland curing (the proportion of cured and/or dead material in a grassland fuel complex) has a significant effect on the ease of ignition, rate of spread and difficulty of suppression of grassfires. There is a critical need for accurate curing information as an input to Australian and New Zealand fire behaviour models and fire danger rating systems. Curing is currently assessed by networks of agency personnel using visual estimates which are spatially sparse, subjective and of limited accuracy. Satellite based curing maps have been produced for south-eastern Australia and Western Australia for several years, but these are based on research restricted to Victorian grasslands, in which curing was estimated visually or indirectly. The component of Project A1.4 reported here has developed satellite-based approaches to the mapping of curing that can provide timely, spatially explicit, objective curing maps covering all of Australia and New Zealand. The research was based on an extensive dataset of objective curing measurements collected over up to four seasons at 39 sites across Australia and 16 sites in New Zealand, with considerable support from fire agency personnel. The research focused on estimating curing with data from the recent MODIS satellite instrument, as a prototype of future satellite systems that will replace the AVHRR instrument on which current satellite curing maps are based. The project investigated multispectral and temporal approaches to minimising the influence of variations in the relative proportions of grass, evergreen vegetation and soil. Both approaches showed a modest performance benefit in curing estimation over the field dataset. However, the advantages of these methods are expected to be more apparent in regions with more mixed vegetation cover proportions than the project field sites. The performance of four candidate methods to map curing over the landscape was evaluated through agency feedback during a pilot trail conducted in southern Australia and New Zealand over the 2009/2010 curing season. On the basis of results at the project field sites and agency feedback, methods to map curing using MODIS satellite data are recommended for Australia and New Zealand. Compared to visual estimates, these satellite methods showed greater accuracy at the project field sites, and provide a basis for efficient, objective and spatially continuous curing maps. The project has surveyed end users on their requirements of an operational system in terms of map format, spatial resolution, frequency, timeliness and delivery mechanism. Given the urgent need for objective and spatially continuous curing information, it is recommended that a system to produce and distribute MODIS curing maps be set up within an agency experienced in the distribution of national scale satellite products. This will enable a more extensive evaluation by end users of their utility in an operational setting in upcoming fire seasons and allow any shortfalls not exposed by the field dataset to be addressed. The potential of the other methods identified by the project to provide alternative curing estimates should be borne in mind during this wider evaluation, particularly in semi-arid or wooded regions where only limited qualitative validation has been available. }, author = {Glenn J Newnham and Ian F Grant and Martin, Danielle and Stuart AJ Anderson} }