Maps for Wildfire Season
A map librarian colleague from the University of Buffalo has kindly allowed me to post this timely and informative message.
Subject: Western US Forest Fires Maps and Imagery
Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 10:23:44 -0400
From: David J. Bertuca <dbertuca@buffalo.edu>
To: Maps List <MAPS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
The Western US is burning in many states. Dryness, winds, and other factors are making 2007 a bad year for fire detection and prevention. We have had questions on this and the following may be helpful for locating maps, satellite imagery, and data. (this is a selected list only). Some of the sites listed include maps for Canada and Mexico as well. Note too, that these sites provide useful map tools for non-fire related topics.
National Interagency Fire Center
<http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info/nfn.htm>
The following USDA Forest Service site provides a lot of data on the fires:
MODIS Active Fire Mapping Program
<http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/>
Select “Imagery” from top menu tab. You can view the latest (usually 1 day behind at most) images of particular states/regions, or you can select other dates and see the progress of fires/fire control. To the right of the thumbnail, select image type (true color are “real” color views).
ALSO on this page are maps and a GIS providing current status of fires.
Select tab “ArcIMS Maps” and you can use the GIS to see fires in relation to the surrounding terrain and infrastructure. This uses ESRI software and for those who have worked with the interface before, it is easy to navigate and find specific locations. For those wishing to just see a map of an area with the latest fire activity, select “Regional Maps”
<http://activefiremaps.fs.fed.us/activefiremaps.php>
and select an area. A map will be displayed and you can further select to see that area for current fire detections/activity. Additional maps and data are available at the home site to this page:
Remote Sensing Applications Center
<http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/rsac/index.html>
Also take a look at the NIFC links page:
National Fire Maps
<http://www.nifc.gov/fire_info/maps.htm>
News and other Gov sites with images/maps:
<http://abcnews.go.com/US/popup?id=3358368>
MODIS (Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer) NASA imagery page:
<http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/gallery/individual.php?db_date=2007-06-29>
choose images from right column (various res)
NOAA National Fire Weather Page for current reports:
<http://fire.boi.noaa.gov/>
and Natural Resources Canada has a site that provides current situations from its National Forest Fire Situation Report
<http://fire.cfs.nrcan.gc.ca/report/firereport_e.php>
see also their Forest Fire Hotspots 2007 page:
<http://atlas.nrcan.gc.ca/site/english/maps/environment/forestfires/hotspots2007/1>
These include fire, drought, and related weather data and maps. I hope this will prove useful to you in assisting others to find what they are looking for.
David J. Bertuca, Map Librarian
225 Capen Hall
University at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY 14260-1672
716-645-2947 x229
dbertuca@buffalo.edu