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Initial Publication Date: April 3, 2010

Week 8: Monitoring Fires

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Use Fire Data to Review ArcGIS Basics
Download Geographic Data About Fires
Launch ARCGIS and Open the Aspen Fire Project
Explore the Data Layers of the Aspen Fire Project
The Aspen Fire
MODIS True and False Color Images
Investigate Attribute Tables in the Aspen Fire Project

Investigate the Daily Fire Perimeter Layer
Investigate the Burn Severity Layer
Investigate the Fire Temperature Layer

Explore More if You Have Time
Resources
Movies on this Page

How to download movies
Flash video versions
iPod versions

Use Fire Data to Review ArcGIS Basics

In this first section of Week 8, you'll review some of the basic GIS skills you have learned, including turning layers on and off, zooming and panning within them, and working with the data tables linked to the map.

Download Geographic Data About Fires

Right-click the link below to download the zipped file.
AspenAM.zip (Zip Archive 39.1MB Apr2 10)
Unzip the file. A folder called AspenAM will be created.
Move the entire AspenAM folder into Week8 work folder. (Path: C:/eyesinthesky2/week8/AspenAM.)

Launch ARCGIS and Open the Aspen Fire Project

Launch ARCGIS ArcMap by double-clicking its icon on your desktop or by clicking its icon on your Launch Bar (Win).
Choose File > Open, navigate to C:/eyesinthesky2/week8/AspenAM, select the Aspen_fire.mxd file, and click Open.
When the project opens, the base map displays a satellite image of Earth.

The image is part of the Blue Marble collection at NASA. It is a composite generated from several different types of data. Much of the data comes from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument, a remote sensing device on the Terra satellite. Latitude and longitude lines are visible on top of the image.

68 Introductory Shot

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Explore the Data Layers of the Aspen Fire project

Scroll down to the bottom of the Table of Contents and turn on the Countries layer.

Scroll down to the bottom of the Table of Contents.
Turn on the Countries layer by clicking the box to the left of its name.

Next, turn on the US 48 States layer, and zoom in on it.

Select the Zoom In tool and drag a rectangle over Arizona. Turn on the Landsat Mosaic layer, and zoom in on it.

Select the Zoom In tool and drag a rectangle over Arizona.
Here is what the map looks like after zooming in on Arizona.
Now turn on the Landsat Mosaic layer. Right click its name in the Table of Contentsand click the Zoom to Layer option in the context menu.
Here is what the map looks like after zooming in on the Landsat Mosaic layer.

Continue working your way up the list through the Table of Contents, turning on each layer and zooming in as needed to see it. Stop when you get to the True Color Aerial layer. This layer displays a remotely sensed image of the Aspen Fire. Read the passage below to find out about the Aspen fire.

The Aspen Fire

The Aspen Fire started on Tuesday, June 17, 2003, in the Catalina Mountains north of Tucson, Arizona, about two miles from the mountain community of Summerhaven. The fire spread rapidly, fueled by high temperatures and dry conditions and fanned at times by extremely high winds gusting at 40 to 60 miles per hour.

When the summer monsoon rains finally arrived on July 15, the fire was extinguished. By that time the fire had burned 84,750 acres and destroyed 335 structures. Three and a half million gallons of water were used to fight the fire, 400,000 gallons of fire retardant were dropped, and over 1000 fire fighters battled the blaze. The cost of suppressing the fire was estimated at 17 million dollars.

Turn on the False Color Aerial image. Switch between the True and False color images by turning them alternately on and off.

Show me the maps

MODIS True and False Color Images

These remotely sensed images of the Aspen fire were acquired on June 24, 2003 by the MODIS Airborne Simulator instrument carried by a NASA ER-2 high altitude aircraft. (The ER-2 is a research version of the military U-2 spy plane.) MODIS is capable of imaging in 36 different wavelength bands, including several bands in the infrared (IR).

The bottom image is a true color image, approximating what you would see if you looked down on the fire from the plane. The top one is a false color image with Shortwave IR assigned to the red channel, Near IR assigned to green, and Green assigned to the blue channel. Notice how the addition of the infrared wavelengths makes the extent of the burned area easier to detect. The red color does not represent the heat of the fire. Rather, it's the high reflectance in the shortwave IR from the now barren trees and ground. The fire itself appears as bright orange-red strips around the perimeter of the burn area. Note also how well the infrared wavelengths penetrate the smoke, giving a much clearer picture of conditions on the ground.

Living vegetation strongly absorbs at these IR wavelengths and reflects green light, so vegetated areas appear bright green in the image. Rocks and bare ground appear brownish.

Remotely sensed images and GIS data were instrumental in monitoring both the fire and its aftermath. In general, images like these are helping natural resource personnel to better understand and manage fires.

Move your way up the Table of Contents and explore the other layers in the project by turning them on and off and zooming in or out as needed. To speed up the time it takes for layers to load in the map, you can turn off the images that you are not using.
Use the Zoom and Pan tools as you explore.

Zoom In
Zoom Out
Pan
Zoom Full Extent

When you are done exploring, turn off all the layers except the False Color Aerial and Shaded Relief images.

Show me a movie about Exploring Map Layers in ArcGIS

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Investigate Attribute Tables in the Aspen Fire Project

Open and investigate several of the Attribute tables for data layers in the project. As you investigate these layers and their data, think of questions that you might be interested in exploring further, such as: "How did the fire spread?" or "Where was the greatest damage?"

Investigate the Daily Fire Perimeter layer

Turn on the Daily Fire Perimeter and zoom in until you can clearly see the perimeter lines.
Show me how

This layer maps the daily expansion of the burn area in progressively darker shade of brown, beginning June 17 and ending July 12, 2003.
Open the Attribute table of this layer and sort the records by DATE in ascending order. The dates are given in a month and day combined format. For example, June 28th is listed as 628.

Right-click on the PC Daily Fire Perimeter layer in the Table of Contents and select Open Attribute Table.
In the Attributes of Daily Fire Perimeter table that opens, you can view the individual records for the layer. Scroll across the table until you find the DATE field.
Select the DATE field header and right-click. Then choose Sort Ascending to rearrange the records in the table in chronological order. The dates are given in a month and day combined format. For example, June 28th is listed as 628.

Each record in the Attributes of Daily Fire Perimeter table describes a specific polygon on Earth's surface that was burned by the fire over a one day period and corresponds to a feature on the map. In this case, these polygons show the progress of the fire each day. They contain important information for fire management planning. They show direction and rate of the fire's spread. They are drawn frequently throughout the day by the fire management team. Fires generally slow their progress during the night, giving the fire crews time to recoup and use these maps to strategize a plan of attack for the next day. These maps are also posted in places where they are publicly available, so that everyone involved has the opportunity to be informed.

Move the Attribute Table so you can see both the table and the map at the same time. Click any record in the table and the corresponding feature will be highlighted in blue on the map, although some features are so small that they might be hard to see. Select records in groups by day to follow the daily progression of the fire. When selecting records, use the shift key to select a group of perimeters showing each day's records as a group.

Show me what this looks like

Close the Attributes of Daily Fire Perimeter table. Clear the Selection , then turn off the Daily Fire Perimeters layer.

Show me a movie about Exploring the Daily Fire Perimeter Layer in ArcGIS

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Investigate the Burn Severity layer

Turn on the Burn Severity layer. Open its Attribute table and examine the SEVERITY field.

Turn on the Burn Severity layer by checking the box to the left of the layer name. Right click on the Burn Severity layer in the Table of Contents and select Open Attribute Table.
In the Attributes of Burn Severity table that opens, scroll across to the SEVERITY field. Note the categories in this field: HIGH, MODERATE, LOW etc.

Switch between the Burn Severity layer and the false color image to compare them.

The Burn Severity layer was created after the fire using satellite data. This map helps managers plan remediation and rehabilitation efforts.

Close the Attributes of the Burn Severity table.

Investigate the Fire Temperature layer

Turn on the Fire Temperature layer. Open the Attribute Table of the Fire Temperature layers and sort the TEMP field to find the range of the fire temperature.

Turn on the Fire Temperature layer by checking the box to the left of the layer name. Right click the Fire Temperature layer and select Open Attribute Table.
In the Attributes of Burn Severity table that opens, scroll across to the TEMP field. These temperatures are what is sensed by the MODIS satellite. They are in degrees Celsius.
Sort the table by Ascending and Descending to find the range of the fire temperature.

What range of temperatures are in the TEMP field?

Show me the answer

Close the Attributes of Fire Temperature table.

Show me a movie about Exploring the Fire Severity and Temperature Layers in ArcGIS

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Explore More If You Have Time

Explore the relationship between Fire Temperature and Burn Severity by turning the layers on and off to compare them.
Open up the Attribute tables of other layers and investigate the data within them.
Quit ARCGIS and Do not save the project.

Resources

Movies on this Page

How to download movies

Click the link to go to the SERC media library listing for the movie. The record will open in a new window.
On the SERC media library page, right-click (Win) or control-click (Mac) the link (below the movie on the Flash version pages) to download the movie file to your hard drive.

Flash Video Versions

Download these versions to play on your computer. You'll need an appropriate movie player to view the file, such as Flash Player , Real Player (Mac / Win), or Adobe Media Player.

Exploring Map Layers in ArcGIS

Exploring the Daily Fire Perimeter Layer in ArcGIS

Exploring the Fire Severity and Temperature Layers in ArcGIS

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iPod Versions

Download these version to play on your iPod or iPhone.

Exploring Map Layers in ArcGIS

Exploring the Daily Fire Perimeter Layer in ArcGIS

Exploring the Fire Severity and Temperature Layers in ArcGIS

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