Map of Swedish Forest Fires >10ha from 2016-2023

A vector map of perimeters of forest fires in Sweden above 10ha from 2016 to 2023 and the Sala Megafire from 2014. Fire locations were identified from multiple sources: the Skogsstyrelsen Skogsbränder Map 2020, EFFIS burned area map and the NASA FIRMS MODIS or VIIRS Fire/Hotspot Data thermal anomalies products.
For fires from 2018 to 2020, fire perimeters were sourced directly from Skogsbränder Map 2020 or the EFFIS burned area map. The EFFIS burned area map provided fire occurrence dates. For fires lacking occurrence dates (from Skogsbränder Map 2020), we cross-referenced locations and assigned the dates from either the EFFIS burned area map or the MSB incident reports database, using ArcGIS.

Fire locations (points) from 2016, 2017, 2021, 2022 and 2023 were identified from NASA FIRMS MODIS or VIIRS Fire/Hotspot Data thermal anomalies products, the fire date was set as the earliest detection date. We then digitized these fire perimeters using post-fire images from Sentinel-2 (10m x10m resolution). First fire locations were manually examined using Sentinel Hub EO Browser as false colour composites (band combination Near Infrared – Red – Green) and image chips downloaded for fires over 10ha. We then manually delineated fire perimeters in ArcGIS; unburned areas located within the fires were excluded from fire perimeters. Fire perimeters include areas burned that were not forest land cover; however, fires that occurred on entirely non-forested land were excluded.

The dataset is in vector (.shp) format with single part polygons representing burned areas; each associated with an occurrence date. This means that fire events with non-continuous burned areas are represented by several single-part polygons, which share the same fire ID number and date.

Data References

European Forest Fire Information System. 2020. EFFIS Burned Area Product. European

Forest Fire Information System -Copernicus. (Available here https://forest-fire.emergency.copernicus.eu/applications/data-and-services)

NASA FIRMS MODIS or VIIRS Fire/Hotspot Data, Country Yearly Summary. 2024. (Available here https://firms.modaps.eosdis.nasa.gov/country/)

Myndigheten för samhällsskydd och Beredskap. 2020. Incident reports from municipal

fire brigades. (Available through direct contact with MSB)

Skogsstyrelsen. 2020. Skogsbränder. (Accessed via Skogsstyrelsen FTP service, under https://www.skogsstyrelsen.se/sjalvservice/karttjanster/geodatatjanster/ftp/)