SERM Forest Fire Chronology of Saskatchewan in Vector Format Summary This data set is a series of ARC/INFO export files of the fire history of Saskatchewan by year from 1945 to 1996, with a few missing years. The data set was compiled and provided by the Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM) to Wildlife Branch. Note that the files of this data set on the BOREAS CD-ROMs have been compressed using the Gzip program. See section 8.2 for details. Table of Contents * 1 Data Set Overview * 2 Investigator(s) * 3 Theory of Measurements * 4 Equipment * 5 Data Acquisition Methods * 6 Observations * 7 Data Description * 8 Data Organization * 9 Data Manipulations * 10 Errors * 11 Notes * 12 Application of the Data Set * 13 Future Modifications and Plans * 14 Software * 15 Data Access * 16 Output Products and Availability * 17 References * 18 Glossary of Terms * 19 List of Acronyms * 20 Document Information 1. Data Set Overview The Forest Fire Chronology of Saskatchewan (FFCS) data set provides temporal snapshots of large fires throughout Saskatchewan forests. Gross delineation of boundaries alone was intended. 1.1 Data Set Identification SERM Forest Fire Chronology of Saskatchewan in Vector Format 1.2 Data Set Introduction This data set is a series of ARC/INFO export files of the fire history of Saskatchewan. It a spatial data base of forest fires 1,000 hectares or larger in Saskatchewan from 1945 to 1996. The data were compiled and provided by the Saskatchewan Environment and Resource Management (SERM) to Wildlife Branch. 1.3 Objective/Purpose These data are provided as part of the BOReal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study (BOREAS) Staff Science Geographic Information System (GIS) Data Collection Program, which included the collection of pertinent map data, in both hardcopy and digital form. While developing management parameters for woodland caribou, the SERM Wildlife Branch saw the need for a spatial data set of large forest fires of Saskatchewan. Such a data set was seen as useful for determining the role of fire on woodland caribou migration and habitat usage patterns. It was also clear that this data set would be a valuable tool for the management of other boreal forest wildlife species. Finally, the data set was seen as useful for other applications, such as demonstrating the role of wildfire in the boreal forest. The FFCS data provide temporal snapshots of large fires throughout Saskatchewan forests. Gross delineation of boundaries alone was intended. 1.4 Summary of Parameters and Variables This data set includes polygons of fires in Saskatchewan 1,000 hectares or larger for the period 1945-1996. 1.5 Discussion Detailed analyses of the content of the gross burn area (amount of burned timber/treed muskeg, etc.) should be performed using larger (1:50,000 to 1:12,500) scale maps on a burn-by-burn basis. With the possible exception of some of the 1995 fires, the FFCS was not compiled to allow for detailed analyses. Only fires 1,000 hectares or larger are included in the data set (with the exception of a few fires over 900 hectares. Most fire boundaries were delineated at a medium-to-small scale (1:250,000), thereby prohibiting mapping of small fires. As expected, a certain amount of feature generalization occurred in the mapping process. 1.6 Related Data Sets SERM Forest Cover Data Layers of the SSA in Vector Format BOREAS Forest Cover Data Layers over the SSA in Raster Format SERM Forest Cover Data of Saskatchewan in Vector Format 2. Investigator(s) 2.1 Investigator(s) Name and Title The FFCS project was initiated and largely carried out by Terry Rock. While with the Wildlife Branch, Terry spent innumerable hours organizing and directing the fire record filtering and entry process. Wildlife Branch maintains the responsibility for the data set. 2.2 Title of Investigation BOREAS Staff Science GIS Activities 2.3 Contact Information Contact 1 ------------- Ott Naelapea Forestry/Wildlife GIS Coordinator Wildlife Branch Saskatchewan Environment & Resource Management Prince Albert, SK Canada (306)953-2671 . (306)953-2750 (fax) naelapea@larix.derm.gov.sk.ca Contact 2 ---------------- Jaime Nickeson NASA/GSFC Greenbelt, MD (301) 286-3373 (301) 286-0239 (fax( Jaime.Nickeson@gsfc.nasa.gov 3. Theory of Measurements While developing management parameters for woodland caribou, Wildlife Branch saw the need for a spatial data set of large forest fires of Saskatchewan. Such a data set was seen as useful for determining the role of fire on woodland caribou migration and habitat usage patterns. It was also clear that this data set would be a valuable tool for the management of other boreal forest wildlife species. Finally, the data set was seen as useful for other applications, such as demonstrating the role of wildfire in the boreal forest. The FFCS data provide temporal snapshots of large fires throughout Saskatchewan forests. Gross delineation of boundaries alone was intended. The year-by-year coverage nomenclature currently used with this data set is not reflective of a normalized data base. A normalized data set would have the fire year as a field in the master coverage rather than in the coverage name. The coverage per year format offers two advantages over using "regions" to combine all coverages into a single coverage. First, many GIS packages or geographic data viewing utilities lack "region"-like functions. Second, a normalized data base would result in awkward data handling: if all fire year coverages were placed into a single coverage, the resultant master coverage would have numerous tiny polygons. Each of these wedges would replicate information for every fire fragment that they depict. Simple analyses such as area-to-perimeter ratio calculations for a given fire could therefore not be performed easily. Thus the data are distributed in the individual coverage per year format. Users have the option of converting the individual coverages into GIS "regions," or they can normalize the data base themselves. However, the data are best distributed in non-normalized form. 4. Equipment 4.1 Sensor/Instrument Description - Gentian digitizing tables (models Altek C30 and C31) connected to a 286 PC with the EM4105 Tektronix 4105 terminal emulator package. (A), (C), and (D) - Gentian digitizing tables (models Altek C30 and C31) connected to Tektronix 4207 terminals. - PC-ARC/INFO v.3.4D on a NEC 386. (A) - ARC/INFO v5 on a Prime. (A) - ARC/INFO v6 and v7 on a Sun SPARC Station 10 Model 30 (B) and those fires occurring north of the commercial forest. (C) - ARC/INFO v7 on a Sun 670MP server. Only those fires in the commercial forest. (D) - Trimble Pro XL GPS, Basic Plus GPS & CMT Datalogger, CMT- GPS. (D) The letter designations refer to groups of years in the data set THAT have been processed differently. See Section 9.2.1 for descriptions of the letter designations. 4.1.1 Collection Environment Not unknown. 4.1.2 Source/Platform Aerial surveys, ground crew estimates, and/or GPS boundaries 4.1.3 Source/Platform Mission Objectives To map areal extent of historical fire activity 1,000 hectares or larger in the province of Saskatchewan. 4.1.4 Key Variables Fire extent 4.1.5 Principles of Operation Not known. 4.1.6 Sensor/Instrument Measurement Geometry Not known. 4.1.7 Manufacturer of Sensor/Instrument See Section 4.1. 4.2 Calibration Not known. 4.2.1 Specifications Not known. 4.2.1.1 Tolerance Not known. 4.2.2 Frequency of Calibration Not known. 4.2.3 Other Calibration Information Not known. 5. Data Acquisition Methods Most fire boundaries were delineated at a medium-to-small scale (1:250,000), thereby prohibiting mapping of small fires. As expected, a certain amount of feature generalization occurred in the mapping process. The FFCS data set was generated using several methods and a myriad of source map types. The methods used for digitizing the fire boundaries are categorized by grouping the years of the fires: (A) 1945 to 1989, excluding 1972 to 1976 (B) 1972 to 1976 (C) 1990 to 1994 (D) 1995 and 1996 It was initially attempted to digitize only fires that were individual polygons of at least 1,000 hectares. For example if a "NO-NAME" fire was based on two noncontiguous areas of 500 hectares each, the 1,000-hectare minimum was not satisfied. This rule applied more to the 1945-1989 data set than for those in the 1990s. Most of this document describes the burn data digitization with these category letters referred to in the text. Fire boundaries were provided primarily on 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 source maps (categories (A) and (C). However, burn perimeters were also depicted at other scales (1:12,500, 1:15,840, and 1:unknown), particularly for fires that occurred in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, which were provided on a variety of source scales. Most category (B) fires were on a 1:1,000,000 source map. Some category (D) fires were on 1:12,500 forest inventory maps and were digitized from those source maps. A few category (D) fire boundaries were recorded using Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers and thus have no source scale. Source map scales were not maintained in the FFCS data set; almost all fire boundaries were transcribed to National Topographic Series 1:250,000 (NTS250) basemaps for digitizing. The NTS250 basemaps varied from Series 1 to Series 4, depending on the version available. In most cases, the transcribing of burn boundaries to 1:250,000 was done visually, but a few maps were ported using a device such as a pantograph. These preparations pertain to category (A) and (C) burns as well as to the vast majority of (D) fires that were not in the commercial forest. Master burn boundary mylar maps were coordinated to NTS250 reference tics. The tics were in extended Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) zone 13 coordinates. Editing tolerances used were the default values. Category (A), (B), and (D) fires were digitized according to basic manual tracing procedures: wherever a line was depicted on the map was where the line was digitized. Most category (C) fire perimeters were digitized using a method that would have facilitated achieving perfect vertical integration with NTS250 water bodies. For these fires, the digitizer intentionally strayed into the water body whenever the fire boundary was shared by the land/water interface. Thus, these fires have noticeable V-shaped arc segments where the boundary enters a lake. Some fires were delineated directly into digital form using GPS receivers. While flying the perimeter of a fire, GPS dataloggers tracked the flight path. Note that the flight path may have approximated the burn boundary it may have followed bulldozer fireguards rather than the true boundary. The GPS boundaries pertain to a few category (D) fires. Some fires were digitized at a 1:12,500 scale. These are easily distinguishable from all other burn boundaries in that they are surrounded by ARC/INFO georeferencing tics that are based on 10-kilometer grids. Almost all of these category (D) fires occurred in the commercial forest and are called "project fires" by the Forestry Branch. For details on how the source data for 1:12,500 category (D) fires were collected and digitized, contact the Forestry Branch. Details about how the 1:million category (B) fires were digitized can also be obtained from the Forestry Branch. Fire boundaries that crossed NTS250 neat lines were edge matched and brought into a master year coverage. (At most, the master coverages span the forested region of Saskatchewan; at the least, they span only the areas burned). Fire labels were assigned to every polygon, and the associated attribute data base fields were filled. Basic topology checks (dangles, label errors, redundant nodes) were performed for category (A) and (B) fires. 6. Observations Although aareas delineated in the data set are considered as "burns," it should not be assumed that these entire areas were burned. Pockets of non-burn areas within the burns may have occurred. Nonburn area land types include: -lakes and rivers -marshes, muskegs, and other wetlands -exposed rock (in the Canadian shield) -"green" nonburned timber areas -timber harvest areas (regenerating) -cleared areas (nonregenerating) -brushland, meadows, riparian areas -areas of value (resource improvement areas, resorts) 6.1 Data Notes Detailed analyses of the content of the gross burn area (amount of burned timber/treed muskeg, etc.) should be made using larger (1:50,000 to 1:12,500) scale maps on a burn-by-burn basis. With the possible exception of some of the 1995 fires, the FFCS was not compiled to allow for detailed analyses. 6.2 Field Notes Not given. 7. Data Description The fire seasons of 1951, 1954, 1962, and 1965 either lacked fires of at least 1,000 hectares or had no records for fires of that size. In this version of the FFCS data set, there are 48 coverages, starting with 1945 and ending with 1996. The coverage summary is listed in chronological order. ========================================================= -------------AREA (Ha)-------------- Number Smallest Largest Mean Total Coverage of Fires fire fire size burned ========================================================= SK_1945 1 2440 2440 2440 2440 SK_1946 3 1817 3342 2680 8040 SK_1947 1 1637 1637 1637 1637 SK_1948 8 991 14132 4516 36127 SK_1949 20 1235 53210 12080 241608 SK_1950 6 950 6639 4354 26124 * SK_1952 4 839 3077 1544 6176 SK_1953 6 3468 15584 7784 46701 * SK_1955 16 816 134215 25054 400862 SK_1956 5 838 5567 2913 14564 SK_1957 4 1891 19327 7178 28712 SK_1958 1 4352 4352 4352 4352 SK_1959 2 981 9143 5062 10124 SK_1960 14 978 36851 11057 154792 SK_1961 26 1111 192462 19674 511519 * SK_1963 9 1146 36165 7229 65059 SK_1964 24 1171 75760 13944 334646 * SK_1966 5 1126 4647 2501 12507 SK_1967 22 1079 35981 8656 190427 SK_1968 6 2342 40534 10260 61558 SK_1969 14 974 226976 21769 304762 SK_1970 33 826 289768 32303 1066014 SK_1971 6 2328 44956 14513 87079 SK_1972 24 1046 67885 6601 158419 SK_1973 38 1031 50598 12869 489011 SK_1974 3 1622 9324 5889 17668 SK_1975 10 1452 38824 12256 122562 SK_1976 9 1849 33448 10357 93215 SK_1977 15 928 70503 8255 123818 SK_1978 6 1458 47885 15800 94800 SK_1979 30 1137 58079 16610 498298 SK_1980 82 919 361787 25312 2075561 SK_1981 71 807 486330 26103 1853287 SK_1982 10 1124 20877 7060 70595 SK_1983 12 1176 12865 3954 47445 SK_1984 21 1024 72055 13113 275372 SK_1985 11 915 23103 9288 102163 SK_1986 2 2346 3777 3062 6123 SK_1987 20 1549 81162 11587 231736 SK_1988 10 1476 34915 7189 71887 SK_1989 64 928 47244 7050 451229 SK_1990 25 638 37479 8013 200324 SK_1991 22 1009 31798 9753 214576 SK_1992 8 1780 62321 15732 125855 SK_1993 25 1013 373701 29554 738857 SK_1994 41 1437 166766 24669 1011439 SK_1995 49 789 234677 29430 1442056 SK_1996 3 1617 4655 3563 10690 ========================================================= Notes: (1) Area totals are rounded to the nearest hectare from GIS square meter totals, but these figures must not be construed as having that high a level of numerical significance. (2) Area totals do not include fires initially recorded as smaller than 1,000 hectares (fires that the GIS shows as slightly less than 1,000 hectares were not discarded, particularly for the latter years). (3) Area summaries do not account for errors inherent with source maps or digitizing. 7.1 Spatial Characteristics Most fire boundaries were delineated at a medium-to-small scale (1:250,000), thereby prohibiting mapping of small features. As expected, a certain amount of feature generalization occurred in the mapping process. 7.1.1 Spatial Coverage The extent of the burn coverages is based on recorded wildfires that occurred within provincial jurisdiction forests in Saskatchewan. Consequently, fires that occurred strictly within federal lands (i.e., within the Primrose Lake Air Weapons Range and Prince Albert National Park) are not part of the data set. Fires that crossed provincial federal jurisdictional boundaries (such as the Deer fire of 1993), however, are included in the data set in their entirety. The spatial extent of individual fire coverages from year to year is highly variable. This variability is the function of the distribution, frequency, and size of fires in a given year. The overall latitude and longitude boundaries are: Minimum Longitude: -110.0 (i.e., West) Maximum Longitude: 101.6 (i.e., West) Minimum Latitude: 49.0 (i.e., North) Maximum Latitude: 60.0 (i.e., North) 7.1.2 Spatial Coverage Map Not available. 7.1.3 Spatial Resolution Fire boundaries were provided primarily on 1:50,000 and 1:250,000 source maps (categories (A) and (C); - see Section 9.2.1). However, burn perimeters were also depicted at other scales (1:12,500, 1:15,840, and 1:unknown), particularly for fires that occurred in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Most category (B) fires were provided on a 1:1,000,000 source map. Only fires 1,000 hectares or larger are included in the data set (with the exception of a few fires over 900 hectares. Most fire boundaries were delineated at a medium-to-small scale (1:250,000), thereby prohibiting mapping of small fires. As expected, a certain amount of feature generalization occurred in the mapping process. 7.1.4 Projection UTM zone 13, North American Datum-1927 (NAD27). 7.1.5 Grid Description Not applicable. 7.2 Temporal Characteristics The data base of fire history for Saskatchewan maintained by SERM is updated annually. The data are distributed in the individual coverage per year format. Users have the option of converting the individual coverages into GIS "regions," or they can normalize the data base themselves. However, the data are best distributed in non-normalized form. 7.2.1 Temporal Coverage This data set covers fires that occurred between 1945 and 1996. The fire seasons of 1951, 1954, 1962, and 1965 either lacked fires of at least 1,000 hectares or had no records for fires of that size. 7.2.2 Temporal Coverage Map Not available. 7.2.3 Temporal Resolution Except for a few missing years, these data are provided on a yearly basis. 7.3 Data Characteristics 7.3.1 Parameter/Variable The SK_FIRES data base (burn attributes) This data base contains the name of each fire, the area of the fire, and simple spatial summaries. The fields in SK_FIRES are: Field Definition Example ---------------------------------------- FIRE_NO 8, 8, C "1990-002" FIRE_NAME 35, 35, C "EASTSIDE" NR22_HECTARE 6, 6, I 10,000 GIS_HECTARE 6, 6, I 12,964 NTS250 15, 15, C "74O/74"' Redefined fields: YEAR 4, 4, C "1990" DIGNUMBER 3, 3, C "002" GIS_SQKM 4, 4, I 129 PRIMARY_NTS 3, 3, C "74O" Note that the INFO data base format redefined fields are not necessarily ported across to other data bases (for example, dBASE cannot handle the redefined fields). Other techniques may have to be used to achieve redefine-like functionality in such data base software packages. 7.3.2 Variable Description/Definition FIRE_NO (fire identifier assigned during GIS operations) A completely arbitrary number assigned when the data base was initially constructed. The first four characters represent the fire year, and the last three represent the arbitrary fire number. There may be gaps in FIRE_NO values (e.g., there may be a "1948-002" and a "1948-004" but no "1948-003"). These gaps are the result of removing fires from the data base that were primarily in agricultural land, were smaller than 1,000 hectares, or were revealed upon subsequent investigation, to have fire maps of questionable quality Every fire has a FIRE_NO entry, without exception. FIRE_NAME (the name assigned to a fire) Usually an arbitrary name assigned to a fire. It may be tied to geographical characteristics ("Esker"), mapped names ("Round Lake," "Wapiskau River"), the shape of the fire ("Football"), the start day or time of the fire ("Monday," "Morning"), or to any number of impulsive fire-naming quirks ("Pizza," "Trolley"). Naming of fires that have merged involves a modified naming system in the data base. Usually (but not always), all fire names are provided, with the names separated by slashes. For example, the single boundary for the merged Ira and Isaac fires has a FIRE_NAME value of "IRA/ISAAC". Typically (but not always), the larger of the pre-merged fires is listed first. Many fires lack names; these fires have either "UNKNOWN" or a blank value in the FIRE_NAME field. NR22_HECTARE (estimated area burned) Contains the Forest Fire Management Branch (FFMB) estimate of the size of the fire. As with the GIS_HECTARE field, these numbers do not necessarily indicate the number of hectares burned. The NR22_HECTARE estimate may have been provided by field staff or could have been calculated by FFMB in the office. Because these values were generated by a number of people using various measurement techniques, it is very unlikely that they were calculated consistently throughout the span of the FFCS or perhaps even within a single fire season. Not all fires have an NR22_HECTARE estimate. This is particularly applicable for fires occurring in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. If an NR22_HECTARE value is unknown, the field contains a value of zero. GIS_HECTARE (area within a burn perimeter, hectares) Fire area totals derived from a UTM extended zone 13 GIS coverage. Note that this number does not necessarily equate to the number of hectares burned, as green islands within the burn are usually not accounted for. Furthermore, mapped fire perimeters do not always depict the true perimeter. The GIS_HECTARE area totals are usually different than those in the NR22_HECTARE field. Extended UTM zone area summation errors notwithstanding, the GIS provides area totals that are derived using a consistent methodology. The area totals for multipolygon fires are summarized into a grand total. The GIS_HECTARE area totals are truncated from the square meter area numbers used by the GIS. They are not rounded. The error associated with the truncation is trivial: many fire area totals cannot be considered accurate even to the nearest 10 hectares, so rounding error to the nearest hectare is considered acceptable. Every fire has a GIS_HECTARE value, without exception. NTS250 (National Topographic Series reference) This field was inserted for data base users who do not have a GIS, thereby providing a semispatial touch to an aspatial data base. The NTS250 field also allows for quick queries of fires within an NTS250 mapsheet of interest by using a "contained in" query. The format of the NTS250 field (e.g., "73G/73F") lists the mapsheets in which the fire occurred in order of relative proportions and NOT in alphabetical order. In the example given, more land burned in 73G than in 73F. Every fire has at least one (and as many as four) NTS250 mapsheet names associated with it. YEAR (the year that a fire occurred) A redefined field that is rather straightforward; indicates the year of the burn. Being a redefined field of FIRE_NO, every fire has a YEAR value. DIGNUMBER (arbitrary numerical fire label) A redefined field that contains the arbitrary fire number assigned during the burn digitization process. This field can be used instead of FIRE_NO if data presented are for only 1 year and the year prefix in FIRE_NO becomes redundant. As with the FIRE_NO field, the DIGNUMBER field is always populated. GIS_SQKM (area within a burn perimeter, square kilometers) A redefined field that truncates the GIS_HECTARE total into square kilometer format. Being a redefined field of GIS_HECTARE, every fire has an associated GIS_SQKM entry, without exception. PRIMARY_NTS (predominant NTS250 in a multi-NTS250 fire) A redefined field that indicates the NTS250 mapsheet that contains the highest proportion of the burned area. Every fire has a PRIMARY_NTS entry associated with it. 7.3.3 Unit of Measurement Defined above (Section 7.3.2) where applicable. 7.3.4 Data Source The FFCS project has hinged upon the fire records gathered during the various incarnations of the Department. These records were handled by innumerable people: field staff in district offices, FFMB personnel, and Forestry Branch employees. The hardcopy burn map sources are: 1) 1945-1971 and 1977-1994 FFMB maps at various scales, typically between 1:50,000 and 1:250,000. 2) 1972-1976 Forestry Branch 1:million provincial fire overview (source maps at larger scales were unavailable). 3) 1995 and on FFMB, primarily at 1:250,000 but with some 1:50,000 maps and forest inventory maps at 1:12,500. Some boundaries delineated using GPS receivers in aircraft. 4) Miscellaneous - Category (A) The Forestry Branch canvassed its staff for fires that may have been missed in an earlier version of the FFCS data set. Based on that survey, The Forestry Branch provided 1:250,000 maps of the following fires: 1961 - Bertwell (year of fire uncertain) 1961 - (two name unknowns, 1961-003 and 1961-020) 1968 - Armstrong 1970 - McCusker 1980 - Kennedy Creek 1991 - Scorcher 1992 - Trolly 1993 - Thursday 5) Miscellaneous - Category (B) Various maps that surfaced from other sources were added to the data set. For example, the "Weitzel" and "Lansdowne" fire boundaries for 1973 were provided by Martin Chartier (via Mickey Desjarlais of the SERM "Buffalo Narrows Fire Centre"). All of the data design work and data set documentation was performed by the Wildlife Branch. The vast majority of the digital compilation of the fire maps was performed by the Wildlife Branch. Listing of digital compilation authors is presented via burn year groupings: 1) 1945-1971, 1977-1994, and 1996 Wildlife Branch (linework and attributes) 2) 1972-1976 Forestry Branch (linework) and Wildlife Branch (attributes) 3) 1995 Forestry Branch: - most "project" fires in the commercial forest, some in the far north - linework and basic attributes - Wildlife Branch - fires not digitized by the Forestry Branch above, including all linework and all attributes - attributes for project fires not recorded by the Forestry Branch 7.3.5 Data Range Not available. 7.4 Sample Data Record Not applicable. 8. Data Organization 8.1 Data Granularity This data set in its entirety is the smallest obtainable unit of data. The data set includes the export files for all available years as well as the documentation files provided by SERM that are associated with the data. 8.2 Data Format(s) 8.2.1 Uncompressed Data Files This data set consists of a total of 70 files. The record sizes in each file are multiples of 80, with a maximum record size of 800 bytes. Each record contains a series of 80-byte logical records. The first file is an ASCII header file. Next, there are 48 export files containing burn polygon coverages for each year (files 2-49), 2 INFO export files (files 50 and 51), and 19 documentation files (files 52-70). When reading, or before importing, files 2- 51 should be given the .e00 extension; ARC/INFO assumes that the file will have that extension if it is not given in the IMPORT command. The Forest Fire Chronology of Saskatchewan data set is provided as ARC/INFO export files. Because these export files contain both coverages and data files, use the "Arc: import auto " command format. The file names are constructed as in the following example: sk_f1972.e00 sk for Saskatchewan _ an underscore f#### an f, followed by the 4-digit year .e00 the .e00 extension, an ARC convention for export files There are also 19 documentation files associated with this data set. This document was compiled mostly from these 19 documents. The documents have the following file names: all.txt coverags.txt dataqual.txt futrwork.txt miscnote.txt authors.txt datadict.txt digitizn.txt geogspec.txt readme.1st backgrnd.txt dataform.txt disclaim.txt history.txt scripts.txt copyinfo.txt dataissu.txt documnts.txt metadata.txt topology.txt The following is an overview of the data set files on the archive tape: Record File Description Size (Bytes) -------------------------------------------------- 1 Header File 80 2 sk_f1945.e00 80 3 sk_f1946.e00 80 4 sk_f1947.e00 80 5 sk_f1948.e00 80 6 sk_f1949.e00 80 7 sk_f1950.e00 80 8 sk_f1952.e00 80 9 sk_f1953.e00 80 10 sk_f1955.e00 80 11 sk_f1956.e00 80 12 sk_f1957.e00 80 13 sk_f1958.e00 80 14 sk_f1959.e00 80 15 sk_f1960.e00 80 16 sk_f1961.e00 80 17 sk_f1963.e00 80 18 sk_f1964.e00 80 19 sk_f1966.e00 80 20 sk_f1967.e00 80 21 sk_f1968.e00 80 22 sk_f1969.e00 80 23 sk_f1970.e00 80 24 sk_f1971.e00 80 25 sk_f1972.e00 80 26 sk_f1973.e00 80 27 sk_f1974.e00 80 28 sk_f1975.e00 80 29 sk_f1976.e00 80 30 sk_f1977.e00 80 31 sk_f1978.e00 80 32 sk_f1979.e00 80 33 sk_f1980.e00 80 34 sk_f1981.e00 80 35 sk_f1982.e00 80 36 sk_f1983.e00 80 37 sk_f1984.e00 80 38 sk_f1985.e00 80 39 sk_f1986.e00 80 40 sk_f1987.e00 80 41 sk_f1988.e00 80 42 sk_f1989.e00 80 43 sk_f1990.e00 80 44 sk_f1991.e00 80 45 sk_f1992.e00 80 46 sk_f1993.e00 80 47 sk_f1994.e00 80 48 sk_f1995.e00 80 49 sk_f1996.e00 80 50 sk_fires 80 51 sk_readme 80 52 readme.1st 80 53 coverags.txt 80 54 dataqual.txt 80 55 futrwork.txt 80 56 miscnote.txt 80 57 authors.txt 80 58 datadict.txt 80 59 digitizn.txt 80 60 geogspec.txt 80 61 backgrnd.txt 80 62 dataform.txt 80 63 disclaim.txt 80 64 history.txt 80 65 scripts.txt 80 66 copyinfo.txt 80 67 dataissu.txt 80 68 documnts.txt 80 69 metadata.txt 80 70 topology.txt 80 8.2.2 Compressed CD-ROM Files On the BOREAS CD-ROMs, files 1, and 52 - 70 listed above are stored as ASCII text files; however, files 2 through 51 have been compressed with the Gzip compression program (file name *.gz). These data have been compressed using gzip version 1.2.4 and the high compression (-9) option (Copyright (C) 1992-1993 Jean-loup Gailly). Gzip (GNU zip) uses the Lempel-Ziv algorithm (Welch, 1994) used in the zip and PKZIP programs. The compressed files may be uncompressed using gzip (-d option) or gunzip. Gzip is available from many websites (for example, ftp site prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/gzip-*.*) for a variety of operating systems in both executable and source code form. Versions of the decompression software for various systems are included on the CD-ROMs. 9. Data Manipulations 9.1 Formulae Not applicable. 9.1.1 Derivation Techniques and Algorithms Not applicable. 9.2 Data Processing Sequence 9.2.1 Processing Steps The reader is referred to Sections 4.1, 5.0, and 7.3.4 for information regarding compilation of the data. BORIS copied the text and compressed the export files for release on CD-ROM. 9.2.2 Processing Changes None. 9.3 Calculations 9.3.1 Special Corrections/Adjustments See Sections 4.1, 5.0, and 7.3.4. 9.3.2 Calculated Variables Not applicable. 9.4 Graphs and Plots None. 10. Errors 10.1 Sources of Error Because the fire chronology spans a 50-year period, many of the fire boundaries overlap because of repeat burns of given areas. Some overlaps, however, are a result of inaccurate mapping of fire boundaries. 10.2 Quality Assessment 10.2.1 Data Validation by Source The fire boundaries have NOT been ground truthed, primarily because it would be far too expensive. Alternatively, fire boundaries could be compared against other map sources that would reflect the occurrence of wildfire. Such sources include forest inventory maps, field records, and other aerial survey information. Satellite imagery could also be a useful tool for verifying fire boundaries. Regardless of available burn boundary verification sources, it is clear that perimeter verification would result in accentuating the already inconsistent quality levels within the data base. (Data inconsistency sources are listed in the next section.) The positioning of burn boundaries on the source maps is implicitly assumed to be correct. Yet their positioning may be significantly inaccurate. Similarly, fire boundaries defined using GPS dataloggers may have been generated by tracking the approximate boundary of the fire; corners may have literally been cut while tracking. Given the medium-to-small scale of the source maps and the errors inherent in the original mapped boundaries, check plots were not used to verify the digital boundaries. A standard level of digitizing error is simply assumed. 10.2.2 Confidence Level/Accuracy Judgment The accuracy of the source maps is variable. In addition to a large number of staff delineating fire boundaries using a variety of mapping methods, data consistency variations are a function of spatial and temporal factors as well as fire mapping limitations: (1) Some smaller burns in or north of the Canadian shield may go undetected, and as such, might not be mapped. Burns in the commercial forest and around high value areas are usually mapped more accurately than those further north. (2) Conditions at present do not reflect those 50 years ago; water levels in lakes and marshes have fluctuated in the 50-year span, timber harvesting has not been accounted for, etc. Burns may have been delineated using base maps that reflect only the conditions at the time the base maps were generated. (3) Aerial reconnaissance of burn perimeters is biased toward fires that consumed understory or canopy fuels. Because ground burn perimeters may be obstructed by foliage, ground-level fires are not mapped as accurately as the other fires. The use of GPSs, lightning strike detectors, and better communication equipment means that more fires today are detected, monitored, and mapped than in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s. Because the FFCS data set spans a 50-year period, the administrative codes used in FFMBs fire numbering scheme will NOT necessarily represent the same administrative boundaries. (The administrative codes have been added only to fires from 1990 onward.) The administrative boundaries have often been shifted, aggregated, or split and they are unlikely ever to be permanent. Thus, they are not a basis for summarizing data over extended periods of time. 10.2.3 Measurement Error for Parameters Not available. 10.2.4 Additional Quality Assessments This data set was generated using a wide range of observation quality levels, input sources, compilation methods, and data sources. Most boundaries are approximate. 10.2.5 Data Verification by Data Center BOREAS Information System (BORIS) personnel have looked at some of the data layers contained in the data set; those reviewed seemed appropriate. 11. Notes 11.1 Limitations of the Data The author of the FFCS makes no guarantees, stated or implied, as to the correctness, accuracy, or completeness of the data or associated documentation. Users choosing to use the data or documentation do so at their own risk, understanding that the Wildlife Branch and the Province of Saskatchewan will have no liability for any loss, monetary or otherwise, that may be incurred. This data set is provided AS IS. 11.2 Known Problems with the Data Many fires are not in the data base because of missing records. Some (but not all) of these have been listed by Terry Rock in the report associated with this data set (see AUTHORS.TXT). The FFCS data base is only as complete as the fire records available to be entered. By no means should the FFCS be viewed as a totally exhaustive data set. If you are aware of any fires that are missing and have a source map for those fires, please contact the data manager listed in METADATA.TXT. Should you find any errors in the documentation, the spatial data base, or the attribute data bases, please notify the data manager (as listed in METADATA.TXT). Every attempt has been made to avoid topological and typographical errors. Nevertheless, the FFCS data set may be missing some fires or it may contain inaccurate information. By contacting the data author about such errors, corrections can be made at the source, and subsequent distributions of the data set will contain the corrected information. 11.3 Usage Guidance Copying the data is permissible as long as all data and documentation files are provided in their entirety and in their original form. Because the author does not charge royalties for the data, nonauthors may not sell the data set in whole or in part. It is recommended that anyone interested in using this data set contact the author directly for the latest official versions of the data set and the associated documentation. Data format modifications (such as adding a new numbering system) are acceptable, as long as the original format of the data is maintained. By sustaining a permanent data relationship to the original format, compatibility with the existing data set as well as with revised and updated data can be ensured. Data content changes made without the consent of the data author are permissible. However, such data sets would no longer be sanctioned by SERM. Any changes to the original data set or its associated documentation must be noted clearly on any written report, graphical output, or numerical summary derived from the altered data set. Modification of the data set using any value-added process does not transfer authorship of the original data set; only the modifications to the data set may be considered as proprietary, but not the entire modified data set that originated from the source data set. Before uncompressing the Gzip files on CD-ROM, be sure that you have enough disk space to hold the uncompressed data files. Then use the appropriate decompression program provided on the CD-ROM for your specific system. 11.4 Other Relevant Information Because the fire chronology spans a 50-year period, many of the fire boundaries overlap because of repeat burns of given areas. Some overlaps, however, are a result of inaccurate mapping of fire boundaries. In some instances, fires occurring in the same year had significant boundary overlaps. These fires were usually merged into one fire with multiple fire names stored in the data base. For example, fire number 1981-030 represents two fires: IRA/ISAAC. 12. Application of the Data Set The data could be used for: -Land cover mapping (“dating” stand age based on time of disturbance) -Woodland caribou habitat analyses -Elk habitat analyses -Moose habitat analyses -Determining of fire action priorities 13. Future Modifications and Plans Burn boundaries from subsequent fire seasons will be added to the data set. Additions will be either in the form of GPS boundaries or via manual trace digitizing. Depending on the update source, additions will be made after fire- out status or during the fall/winter after a fire season. Data entry will be performed annually. An ambitious goal of establishing a new data set of fires 100-1,000 hectares in size has been set. Implementing this data set will require considerably more resources than did the 1,000-hectare or larger data set. The 100-1,000-hectare data set will not contain fires from previous years; it will contain only the fires for the year that the data set was implemented and for all subsequent years. There have been so many fires in this size range in the past that generating a data set of these fires would be far too monumental of a task. Suggestions for improving the FFCS data set and its associated documentation are welcome. 14. Software - PC-ARC/INFO v.3.4D on a NEC 386 (A) - ARC/INFO v5 on a Prime. (A) - ARC/INFO v6 and v7 on a Sun SPARC Station 10 Model 30 (B) and those fires occurring north of the commercial forest (C) - ARC/INFO v7 on a Sun 670MP server. Only those fires in the commercial forest (D) 14.1 Software Description Questions about the software should be directed to: Environmental Systems Research Institute, Inc. 380 New York Street Redlands, CA 92373-8100 Gzip (GNU zip) uses the Lempel-Ziv algorithm (Welch, 1994) used in the zip and PKZIP commands. 14.2 Software Access ARC/INFO is a commercial package; contact ESRI for details. Gzip is available from many websites across the net (for example) ftp site prep.ai.mit.edu/pub/gnu/gzip-*.*) for a variety of operating systems in both executable and source code form. Versions of the decompression software for various systems are included on the CD-ROMs. 15. Data Access 15.1 Contact Information Ms. Beth McCowan BOREAS Data Manager NASA/GSFC Greenbelt, MD (301) 286-4005 (301) 286-0239 (fax) beth@ltpmail.gsfc.nasa.gov 15.2 Data Center Identification See Section 15.1. 15.3 Procedures for Obtaining Data Users may place requests by telephone, electronic mail, or fax. 15.4 Data Center Status/Plans The Saskatchewan fire history data are available from the Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS), Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Distributed Active Archive Center (DAAC). The BOREAS contact at ORNL is: ORNL DAAC User Services Oak Ridge National Laboratory (865) 241-3952 ornldaac@ornl.gov ornl@eos.nasa.gov 16. Output Products and Availability 16.1 Tape Products Computer Compatible Tape (CCT), 8-mm tape 16.2 Film Products None. 16.3 Other Products These data are available on the BOREAS CD-ROM series. 17. References 17.1 Platform/Sensor/Instrument/Data Processing Documentation Forest fire chronology of Saskatchewan digital data documentation. 1996. Wildlife Branch, Saskatchewan Environment & Resource Management. Prince Albert, Saskatchewan. 17 text files. Documentation files associated with this data set (many of which were used to create this documentation file): AUTHORS.TXT - organizations and staff involved in generating the FFCS data set. 1 pp. BACKGRND.TXT - background information (data content and origin, acronyms). 3 ppp. COPYINFO.TXT - data ownership and copying information. 2 pp. COVERAGS.TXT - list of ARC/INFO coverages and summary of their features. 2 pp. DATADICT.TXT - data dictionary (data base fields and linkages). 5 pp. DATAFORM.TXT - data file formats. 2 pp. DATAISSU.TXT - data base and GIS issues (normalization, regions, vertical integration, derived data). 3 pp. DATAQUAL.TXT - data quality and usability info. 3 pp. DIGITIZN.TXT - digitization methods and equipment. 3 pp. DISCLAMR.TXT - disclaimer. 1 pp. DOCUMNTS.TXT - the file that you are now reading. 2 pp. FUTRWORK.TXT - realistic and ambitious plans for future work. 3 pp. GEOGSPEC.TXT - geographic parameter listing. 5 pp. HISTORY.TXT - project history. 2 pp. METADATA.TXT - description of the FFCS data set (who, what, when, why, where) in Canadian General Standards Board metadata format. Somewhat overlaps the content of the other readme files but is often too abridged. 6 pp. MISCNOTE.TXT - miscellaneous notes. 1 pp. README.1ST - documentation guide. 2 pp. SCRIPTS.TXT - programming code used and/or available for generating or manipulating the data set. 1 pp. TOPOLOGY.TXT - description of topological features. 2 pp. Welch, T.A. 1984, A Technique for High Performance Data Compression, IEEE Computer, Vol. 17, No. 6, pp. 8 - 19. 17.2 Journal Articles and Study Reports A fire history for Saskatchewan. 1996. Wildlife Branch, Saskatchewan Environment & Resource Management. Prince Albert, SK. 6 pp. and appendices. Sellers, P., and F. Hall. 1994. Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study: Experiment Plan. Version 1994-3.0, NASA BOREAS Report (EXPLAN-94). Sellers, P., and F. Hall. 1996. Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study: Experiment Plan. Version 1996-2.0, NASA BOREAS Report (EXPLAN-96). Sellers, P., F. Hall, and K. F. Huemmrich. 1994. Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study: 1994 Operations. NASA BOREAS Report (OPS DOC 94). Sellers, P., F. Hall, and K. F. Huemmrich. 1997. Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study: 1996 Operations. NASA BOREAS Report (OPS DOC 96). Sellers, P., F. Hall, and K. F. Huemmrich. 1994. Boreal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study: 1994 Operations. NASA BOREAS Report (OPS DOC 94). Sellers, P., F. Hall, H. Margolis, B. Kelly, D. Baldocchi, G. den Hartog, J. Cihlar, M. G. Ryan, B. Goodison, P. Crill, K. J. Ranson, D. Lettenmaier, and D. E. Wickland. 1995. The boreal ecosystem-atmosphere study (BOREAS): an overview and early results from the 1994 field year. Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society. 76(9):1549-1577. Sellers, P., and F. Hall. 1997. BOREAS Overview Paper. JGR Special Issue (in press). 17.3 Archive/DBMS Usage Documentation None. 18. Glossary of Terms None. 19. List of Acronyms AAT - Arc Attribute Table BOREAS - BOReal Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study BORIS - BOREAS Information System DAAC - Distributed Active Archive Center EOS - Earth Observing System EOSDIS - EOS Data and Information System ESRI - Environmental Systems Research Institute (authors of the ARC/INFO GIS) FFCS - Forest Fire Chronology of Saskatchewan FFMB - Forest Fire Management Branch GIS - Geographic Information System GPS - Global Positioning System GSFC - Goddard Space Flight Center NAD - North American Datum NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration NSA - Northern Study Area NTS - National Topographic Series (basemaps) ORNL - Oak Ridge National Laboratory PANP - Prince Albert National Park PAT - Polygon Attribute Table SERM - Saskatchewan Environment & Resource Management SSA - Southern Study Area URL - Uniform Resource Locator (a World Wide Web address) UTM - Universal Transverse Mercator 20. Document Information 20.1 Document Revision Dates Written: 10-Mar-1997 Last Updated: 28-Jan-1998 20.2 Document Review Date(s) BORIS Review: 15-May-1997 Science Review: 20.3 Document 20.4 Citation The digital FFCS data set and associated documentation are the property of Government of Saskatchewan. The digital FFCS data and documentation may be used in the preparation of reports, estimates, and proposals and in other digital data bases, subject to the following conditions: (1) All the data and material displayed, referenced, or distributed in whole, in part, or in combination with any other data must clearly indicate the author along with the date of the data origin and the date of the most recent update or revision as supplied by the author. (2) Wildlife Branch authorizes users to subject the data to value-added activities and, if these value-added activities have occurred, they must be clearly stated in any reports, analyses, references, or depictions produced by the user. 20.5 Document Curator 20.6 Document URL Keywords BOREAL FOREST FIRE SASKATCHEWAN GIS Sask_Fire_History 04/17/98