LANDFIRE 2020 Forest Canopy Base Height (CBH) CONUS
LANDFIRE's (LF) 2020 Canopy Base Height (CBH) supplies information used in fire behavior models to determine the critical point at which a surface fire will transition to a crown fire. CBH data are continuous from 0 to 9.9 meters (to the nearest 0.1 meter) and describe the lowest point in a stand where there is enough available fuel (0.25 in dia.) to propagate fire vertically through the canopy. Critical CBH is defined as the lowest point at which the canopy bulk density is .012 kg m-3. The CBH mapping process starts by deriving field referenced estimates of canopy characteristics through LF Reference Database (LFRDB) plot analysis. Utilizing LFRDB plots, a training data set to model CBH was created. Field referenced CBH values are calculated for each plot using the canopy fuel estimation software in Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS). Statistical analysis of plot variables indicates that LF 2020 Fuel Vegetation Type (FVT) Fuel Vegetation Height (FVH), and Fuel Vegetation Cover demonstrate some influence on CBH. To model this relationship Canopy Cover (CC) and Canopy Height (CH) are used as predictors of CBH; developing a linear regression equation per FVT and disturbance type/severity. In LF 2020, fuel products were created with LF 2020 vegetation in non-disturbed areas. In disturbed areas, pre-disturbance vegetation was used as a starting point to derive disturbed CC and CH from linear regression equations, which was then used to calculate CBH.
CBH was developed using the latest Annual Disturbance products from the effective disturbance years of 2012 to 2020 to provide informed changes by disturbance type, severity, and time since disturbance (TSD). The capable fuels process calculates fuel assignments for disturbed areas using an “effective year”. This process considers all the existing disturbances included in LF 2020 and assigns fuels to the pre-disturbance vegetation based on the adjusted TSD, making the products "2022 capable fuels" intended for use in 2022 and accounting for two years of disturbance recovery. Learn more about LF 2020 at https://landfire.gov/data/lf2020
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Complete Metadata
| accessLevel | public |
|---|---|
| bureauCode |
[ "010:12" ] |
| contactPoint |
{ "fn": "LANDFIRE, Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (EROS), U.S. Geological Survey", "@type": "vcard:Contact", "hasEmail": "mailto:helpdesk@landfire.gov" } |
| description | LANDFIRE's (LF) 2020 Canopy Base Height (CBH) supplies information used in fire behavior models to determine the critical point at which a surface fire will transition to a crown fire. CBH data are continuous from 0 to 9.9 meters (to the nearest 0.1 meter) and describe the lowest point in a stand where there is enough available fuel (0.25 in dia.) to propagate fire vertically through the canopy. Critical CBH is defined as the lowest point at which the canopy bulk density is .012 kg m-3. The CBH mapping process starts by deriving field referenced estimates of canopy characteristics through LF Reference Database (LFRDB) plot analysis. Utilizing LFRDB plots, a training data set to model CBH was created. Field referenced CBH values are calculated for each plot using the canopy fuel estimation software in Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS). Statistical analysis of plot variables indicates that LF 2020 Fuel Vegetation Type (FVT) Fuel Vegetation Height (FVH), and Fuel Vegetation Cover demonstrate some influence on CBH. To model this relationship Canopy Cover (CC) and Canopy Height (CH) are used as predictors of CBH; developing a linear regression equation per FVT and disturbance type/severity. In LF 2020, fuel products were created with LF 2020 vegetation in non-disturbed areas. In disturbed areas, pre-disturbance vegetation was used as a starting point to derive disturbed CC and CH from linear regression equations, which was then used to calculate CBH. CBH was developed using the latest Annual Disturbance products from the effective disturbance years of 2012 to 2020 to provide informed changes by disturbance type, severity, and time since disturbance (TSD). The capable fuels process calculates fuel assignments for disturbed areas using an “effective year”. This process considers all the existing disturbances included in LF 2020 and assigns fuels to the pre-disturbance vegetation based on the adjusted TSD, making the products "2022 capable fuels" intended for use in 2022 and accounting for two years of disturbance recovery. Learn more about LF 2020 at https://landfire.gov/data/lf2020 |
| distribution |
[ { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Digital Data", "format": "XML", "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.5066/P1LJEZ3G", "mediaType": "application/http", "description": "Landing page for access to the data" }, { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Original Metadata", "format": "XML", "mediaType": "text/xml", "description": "The metadata original format", "downloadURL": "https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.6a15f8e4b66b01e66c9c2ef7.xml" } ] |
| identifier | http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_6a15f8e4b66b01e66c9c2ef7 |
| keyword |
[ "CBH", "CONUS", "Canopy Base Height", "Conterminous US", "Continental U.S.", "LANDFIRE 2020", "LF 2020", "U.S. Forest Service (USFS)", "U.S. Geological Survey (USGS)", "US", "USGS:6a15f8e4b66b01e66c9c2ef7", "United States", "farming", "fires", "geographic information systems", "geospatial datasets", "hazard preparedness", "image collections", "imageryBaseMapsEarthCover", "raster digital data", "remote sensing" ] |
| modified | 2026-07-23T00:00:00Z |
| publisher |
{ "name": "U.S. Geological Survey", "@type": "org:Organization" } |
| spatial | -127.9878, 22.7654, -65.2544, 51.6497 |
| theme |
[ "geospatial" ] |
| title | LANDFIRE 2020 Forest Canopy Base Height (CBH) CONUS |
