me XXXIX-B8, 2012 
apping. Photogrammetric 
p.513-523. 
z, T. 2006. Engineering 
'eographical information 
logy and the Environment. 
BURN SEVERITY MAPPING IN AUSTRALIA 2009 
R. McKinley **, J. Clark?, J. Lecker" 
?U.S. Geological Survey, Earth Resources Observation and Science Center, Sioux Falls, SD USA — rmckinley@usgs.gov 
"U.S. Forest Service, Remote Sensing Applications Center, Salt Lake City, UT USA — (jtclark, jlecker)@fs.fed.us. 
KEY WORDS: Hazards, Forest fire, Change detection, Landsat, Landscape 
ABSTRACT: 
In 2009, the Victoria Department of Sustainability and Environment estimated approximately 430,000 hectares of Victoria Australia 
were burned by numerous bushfires. Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) teams from the United States were deployed to 
Victoria to assist local fire managers. The U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resources Observation and Science Center (USGS/EROS) 
and U.S. Forest Service Remote Sensing Applications Center (USFS/RSAC) aided the support effort by providing satellite-derived 
“soil burn severity" maps for over 280,000 burned hectares. In the United States, BAER teams are assembled to make rapid 
assessments of burned lands to identify potential hazards to public health and property. An early step in the assessment process is the 
creation of a soil burn severity map used to identify hazard areas and prioritize treatment locations. These maps are developed 
primarily using Landsat satellite imagery and the differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) algorithm. 
1. INTRODUCTION 
Land managers in the United States are concerned with the 
response of watersheds to precipitation after a wildfire. With an 
ever-expanding wildland-urban interface (WUI), land managers 
must be continually cognizant of potential damage to private 
property and other values at risk due to fire (Clark, 201 1). Land 
management agencies deploy Burned Area Emergency 
Response (BAER) teams to “prescribe and implement 
emergency treatments to minimize threats to life or property or 
to stabilize and prevent unacceptable degradation to natural and 
cultural resources resulting from the effects of a fire” (USDA 
Forest Service, 2004). In the United States, the primary BAER 
team objective is emergency stabilization of burned areas rather 
than long-term restoration of the landscape after a fire. BAER 
teams assess conditions and prescribe treatments in an effort to 
protect life and property and prevent additional damage to 
resources (Clark, 2011). Burned area treatments can include 
seeding of desired species, application of mulch to provide 
ground cover, contour log felling and the construction of log 
barriers to reduce erosion, and protecting transportation 
corridors by enlarging culverts or installing fences to minimize 
the impact of debris flows and increased runoff. 
BAER teams attempt to immediately address hazards that 
burned areas may represent for several years. For example, 
lands experiencing high levels of burn severity may be 
susceptible to mud and debris slides during and after heavy rain 
events. BAER teams attempt to locate areas of high burn 
severity and assess the potential downstream damage that could 
result from such slides. Factors such as the presence of personal 
property, threatened and endangered species, archeological 
sites, water supplies, and threats to soil productivity must be 
considered by BAER teams. In the United States, one of a 
BAER team’s first tasks is to develop a soil burn severity map 
that highlights the areas of low, moderate, and high bum 
severity within a wildfire perimeter (Clark, 2011). The term 
“soil burn severity” is used to prevent confusion with other 
BAER maps that focus more specifically on vegetation 
mortality. For BAER purposes, soil burn severity is generally 
defined as fire-caused changes in soil characteristics that affect 
the soil hydrologic function. Along with other environmental 
and terrain variables, soil burn severity is a critical input to 
51 
subsequent GIS modeling scenarios used to assess or predict 
potential post fire effects such as increased surface water 
runoff, debris flows (Cannon, 2010), and erosion. The soil burn 
severity map also serves as a base map for subsequent BAER 
assessments. 
Traditionally, the BAER soil burn severity map was created by 
sketching burn perimeters on a topographic map—or even a 
forest-visitor map—from a helicopter or road-accessible 
overlook (Clark, 2011). These methods were often inaccurate 
and labor intensive especially when mapping large fires in 
remote or inaccessible locations. In 2001, the use of satellite 
imagery and remote sensing techniques for soil burn severity 
mapping was pioneered by the United States Department of 
Agriculture (USDA) Forest Service (FS) Remote Sensing 
Applications Center (RSAC) and the Department of the Interior 
(DOI) United States Geological Survey (USGS) Center for 
Earth Resource Observation and Science (EROS). Working 
cooperatively, the two centers have succeeded in establishing 
an operational program to serve DOI and USDA BAER teams 
and other local, state and federal land management entities. 
This support activity is usually required from the time of fire 
containment to 7 to 14 days post-fire when BAER teams 
generally must complete their assessments. EROS and RSAC 
have developed methodologies to provide immediate post-fire 
GIS-ready map and image layers that characterizes landscape 
change due to fire. In the United States, remote sensing and 
geographic information system (GIS) technologies have proven 
to be an effective alternative to traditional soil burn severity 
mapping techniques. 
In 2009, US BAER teams were deployed to Victoria to assist 
local fire managers. USGS EROS and USFS RSAC supported 
these teams by providing satellite-derived soil burn severity 
maps for over 280,000 burned hectares (691,895 acres). The 
BAER team support work and the satellite burn mapping effort 
were achieved with a high degree of cooperation with 
Victoria's Department of Sustainability and Environment 
(DSE) and the Australian government's National Earth 
Observation Group (previously known as ACRES), which is 
affiliated with Geoscience Australia. This group provides earth 
observation services including data from Australia's principal 
earth resource satellite ground station and data processing