LANDFIRE 2023 (240) Update

The LANDFIRE 2023 Update (LF 2023) product suite represents the final step in the ongoing goal to move towards annual updates and reduced latency. LANDFIRE'S goal has been to release an annual update every year that represents one year, specifically the previous year. Similar to the LF 2022 Update, in LF 2023, disturbances from the previous year are represented in current year products. However, LF 2023 marks the first version where only the past year is represented. Whereas LF 2022 included 2 years of disturbance (2021 and 2022) the LF 2023 Update includes only one year of disturbance (2023).

Improvements Featured in the LF 2023 Update:
The use of 4 seasonal composites in disturbance mapping, doubling LANDFIRE’s use of satellite imagery
Mapped disturbance events in the 90km buffer area surrounding the Conterminous United States (CONUS)
Two new types of Annual Disturbance products – Limited and Preliminary Annual Disturbance
New fuels calibration for the Southeast GeoArea, Colorado, and Oklahoma
An updated Operational Roads product for CONUS that incorporates National Land Cover Database (NLCD) 2021
The return of Fire Regime Group (FRG), Fire Return Interval (FRI), and Percent Fire Severity (PFS) as standalone products – no longer nested within the Biophysical Setting (BPS) product
An updated BPS product for AK
An updated Fuel Characteristics Classification System (FCCS) product for all extents
A new methodology update for Existing Vegetation Cover (EVC), Height (EVH), and Type (EVT) products within CONUS
In the past LANDFIRE updates have used millions of rulesets developed from local and national experts across the United States to update mapped vegetation where disturbance has occurred. These rulesets considered the initial vegetation type, cover, and height and applied a transition rule using the disturbance type, severity, and length of time since the disturbance occurred to produce an updated EVT, EVC, and EVH products for a new version.

Since circa LF 2016 Remap (LF Remap), these rules have required to Remap inputs of EVT, EVC, and EVH. This created challenges for the update process because areas that had been disturbed in the few years prior to 2016 remained unchanged from that snapshot in time.

For LF 2023, LANDFIRE will map the lifeform, cover, and height of existing vegetation in areas that LANDFIRE has mapped as disturbed over the last twenty years (see the LANDFIRE Annual Disturbance product) using our machine learning methods. LANDFIRE focused on updating areas disturbed over the last 20 years since these are the areas that have most likely changed the most.