The LANDFIRE (LF) 2022 Update represents another step in moving towards an annual update.

This update is the first time in LANDFIRE history in which disturbances from the year before are represented in current year products.

LF 2022 includes adjustments to vegetation and fuels in disturbed areas for disturbances recorded in 2021 and 2022. LF 2022 disturbance layers contain comprehensive polygon treatment data (disturbance events) obtained from national and local sources and fire program data including:

• Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS)
• Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC)
• Rapid Assessment of Vegetation Condition after Wildfire (RAVG)

Disturbances are also identified with LF's remote sensing of landscape change (RSLC), which identifies spectral change in vegetation using automated algorithms and image analyst review of the entire country.

Both vegetation cover and height, as well as fuels, will be 2023 capable in disturbed areas. This means that in mapped disturbances, vegetation and fuels represent current year conditions. Transition rulesets for vegetation account for disturbances from 2017 to 2022 since they were designed to use LF 2016 Remap vegetation data as inputs. Fuel updates utilize 2013–2022 disturbances because fuels transition rules encompass ten years of disturbance and can use pre-disturbance fuel inputs.

Important changes featured in the LF 2022 update include:

• In CONUS, Existing Vegetation Type (EVT) Ecological Systems classifications will remain the same as LF 2020, except in areas where agriculture or urban areas have changed. Note that LF 2020 EVT is the most recent version for AK, HI, and the Insular Areas
• LF 2022 contains the first application of the "zero to one" Time Since Disturbance (TSD) rules for vegetation height and cover transition rules
  • New rules for the "zero to one" TSD category were developed for surface fuel transitions and are designed to represent the effects of disturbance on fuels for the growing season immediately following the disturbance
• The years represented in Historical Disturbance (HDist) and Fuel Disturbance (FDist) are now the same

LF 2022 Update Products and Descriptions

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Product Description

The Fire Return Interval (FRI) product quantifies the average period between fires under the presumed historical fire regime. FRI is intended to describe one component of historical fire regime characteristics in the context of the broader historical time period represented by the LANDFIRE Biophysical Settings (BpS) product and BpS Model documentation.

At the release of LF 2016 Remap Fire Return Interval (FRI_ALLFIR) was included as an attribute in the Biophysical Settings (BPS) product. Then, in calendar year 2024, this product became a stand-alone product once again. 

Product Description

Slope represents the change of elevation over a specific area.

LF 2020 Update Slope Degree (SlpD) and Slope Percent Rise (SlpP) products are generated from 1 arc-second Digital Elevation Models (DEM) tiles (approximately 30 meter) downloaded November 9, 2021 from The National Map (TNM) Viewer (v2.0), part of the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) which provides the best available public domain raster elevation data of the conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska, Hawaii, and insular areas.

See metadata by extent for specific details regarding coordinate system and projection information.

Note: LF 2020 topographic products are consistently calculated from true north, a correction from earlier topographic products where Aspect was calculated incorrectly. Users are advised to download the LF 2020 topographic products for CONUS, HI, AK, and PRVI to replace LF topographic products previously downloaded. We also advise that Landscape GeoTIFF (landscape) files created from earlier topographic products be re-created using the LF 2020 topographic products.

LF 2016 Remap and beyond includes a 90-kilometer buffer along the 1,500 miles of the eastern and southern borders AK shares with Canada. Then with the LF 2020 update, and future updates, for the Conterminous United States (CONUS) a 90-kilometer buffer into Mexico is also included. 

Product Description

Elevation represents land height, in meters, above mean sea level.

LF 2020 Update Elevation products were created using the 1 arc-second Digital Elevation Models (DEM) tiles (approximately 30 meter) downloaded November 9, 2021 from The National Map (TNM) Viewer (v2.0), part of the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) which provides the best available public domain raster elevation data of the conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska, Hawaii, and insular areas.

See metadata by extent for specific details regarding coordinate system and projection information.

Note: LF 2020 topographic products are consistently calculated from true north, a correction from earlier topographic products where Aspect was calculated incorrectly. Users are advised to download the LF 2020 topographic products for CONUS, HI, AK, and PRVI to replace any LF topographic products previously downloaded. We also advise that Landscape GeoTIFF (landscape) files created from earlier topographic products be re-created using the LF 2020 topographic products.

LF 2016 Remap and beyond includes a 90-kilometer buffer along the 1,500 miles of the eastern and southern borders AK shares with Canada. Then with the LF 2020 update, and future updates, for the Conterminous United States (CONUS) a 90-kilometer buffer into Mexico is also included.

Product Description

Aspect defines downslope direction in degrees and represents the azimuth of the sloped surfaces across a landscape.

LF 2020 Update Aspect products are generated from 1 arc-second Digital Elevation Models (DEM) tiles (approximately 30 meter) downloaded November 9, 2021 from The National Map (TNM) Viewer (v2.0), part of the USGS 3D Elevation Program (3DEP) which provides the best available public domain raster elevation data of the conterminous United States (CONUS), Alaska, Hawaii, and insular areas. See metadata by extent for specific details regarding coordinate system and projection information.

See metadata by extent for specific details regarding coordinate system and projection information.

Note: LF 2020 topographic products are consistently calculated from true north, a correction from earlier topographic products where Aspect was calculated incorrectly. Users are advised to download the LF 2020 topographic products for CONUS, HI, AK, and PRVI to replace any LF topographic products previously downloaded. We also advise that Landscape GeoTIFF (landscape) files created from earlier topographic products be re-created using the LF 2020 topographic products.

LF 2016 Remap and beyond includes a 90-kilometer buffer along the 1,500 miles of the eastern and southern borders AK shares with Canada. Then with the LF 2020 update, and future updates, for the Conterminous United States (CONUS) a 90-kilometer buffer into Mexico is also included.

Product Description

Historical Disturbance data is available by request only through the HelpDesk.

This page includes a general description of the product, please consult the schedule and version pages for information specific to each release.

LANDFIRE (LF) disturbance products are developed to provide temporal and spatial information related to landscape change. Historical Disturbance (HDist) is developed from the base LF Disturbance products (and attribute code system) to represent the 'history of disturbance' for a 10-year span. Each year's disturbance scenarios are checked against time relevant LF vegetation to check for logical inconsistencies. Errant disturbance codes are flagged and updated to a discard code with the remaining disturbance codes cross walked to Fuel Disturbance (FDist) codes. HDist development involves a comprehensive review of fuel and disturbance attributes.

Starting with LF 2016 Remap, and beyond, HDist replaces Vegetation Disturbance from previous LF versions incorporating pre-disturbance vegetation logic (based on disturbance year and vegetation type).

LF 2016 Remap and beyond includes a 90-kilometer buffer along the 1,500 miles of the eastern and southern borders AK shares with Canada. Then with the LF 2020 update, and future updates, for the Conterminous United States (CONUS) a 90-kilometer buffer into Mexico is also included.

LF uses HDist in the development of several subsequent layers, including the FDist product.