BAER Soil Burn Severity Classification (Map Service)

This soil burn severity dataset is a compilation of all USFS BAER assessment data produced by the U.S. Forest Service in 2018. Each soil burn severity dataset was derived from satellite imagery, primarily Landsat 8 and Sentinel 2, and field validated by a Forest Service Burned Area Emergency Response (BAER) team. It is based upon an initial Burned Area Reflectance Classification (BARC). The BARC is created by analyzing pre-fire and post-fire satellite scenes and then calculating a differenced Normalized Burn Ratio (dNBR) image. The dNBR image attempts to portray the variation of burn severity within a fire and captures the combined effects of the fire to vegetation and soil components of the ecosytem. The preliminary BARC dataset was assessed by a Forest Service BAER team and modified, if necessary, based on field conditions.