Version: 5.0
Authors: Chen, Y., Hall, J., van Wees, D., Andela, N., Hantson, S., Giglio, L., van der Werf, G., Morton, D. C., & Randerson, J. T.
This dataset provides global monthly burned area data from 1997 to 2020, in netcdf format. The data has a spatial resolution of 0.25 degree for the years 2001-2020 and 1 degree for the years 1997-2000.
For the years 2001-2020, there are 5 data layers in each netCDF file BAYYYYMM.nc in which YYYY represents the year and the MM represents the month. The unit of the variables is square kilometers per 0.25 deg per month.
Total - total burned areaNorm - normal type burned areaCrop - cropland burned areaDefo - deforestation burned areaPeat - peatland burned areaThe Norm layer contains burned areas in each grid cell (in km2) for each month separated by 17 major land cover types:
0 Water; 1 Boreal forest; 2 Tropical forest; 3 Temperate forest; 4 Temperate mosaic; 5 Tropical shrublands; 6 Temperate shrublands; 7 Temperate grasslands; 8 Woody savanna; 9 Open savanna; 10 Tropical grasslands; 11 Wetlands; 13 Urban; 15 Snow/Ice; 16 Barren; 17 Sparse boreal forest; 18 Tundra. Land cover type codes 12, 14, and 19 are not in use.
The data structure of the netCDF files are listed as follows, with latitude (lat) values for each grid cell center spanning from -89.875 (southern hemisphere) to 89.875 (northern hemisphere), longitude (lon) values spanning from -179.875 (west) to 179.875 (east):
dimensions:
lat = 720 ;
lon = 1440 ;
iLCT = 20 ;
time = 1 ;
variables:
double lat(lat) ;
lat:_FillValue = NaN ;
double lon(lon) ;
lon:_FillValue = NaN ;
int64 iLCT(iLCT) ;
int64 time(time) ;
time:units = "days since 2010-05-01" ;
time:calendar = "proleptic_gregorian" ;
double Norm(time, iLCT, lat, lon) ;
Norm:_FillValue = NaN ;
double Peat(time, lat, lon) ;
Peat:_FillValue = NaN ;
double Defo(time, lat, lon) ;
Def:_FillValue = NaN ;
double Total(time, lat, lon) ;
Total:_FillValue = NaN ;
double Crop(time, lat, lon) ;
Crop:_FillValue = NaN ;
data:
lat = -89.875, -89.625, -89.375, -89.125, -88.875, ..., 88.875, 89.125, 89.375, 89.625, 89.875;
lon = -179.875, -179.625, -179.375, -179.125, -178.875, ..., 178.875, 179.125, 179.375, 179.625, 179.875;
iLCT = 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 ;
time = 0 ;
For the pre-MODIS era (1997-2000), only the Total burned area layer with reduced spatial resolution (1°×1°) is provided.
In addition to the burned area, we also provide two netCDF files (BurnableArea.nc and BurnableArea_preMOD.nc) that contain global maps of burnable area (with water and snow/ice cover excluded) in each grid cell for the MODIS era (0.25°×0.25°) and for the pre-MODIS era (1°×1°).
The netCDF file can be read by many computer programs. Here is an example Python code that uses the xarray library.
import xarray as xr
# Set the month
YYYY = '2014'
MM = '09'
# Open the netCDF file
nc_file = xr.open_dataset('BA'+YYYY+MM+'.nc')
# Access a variable
peat_var = nc_file['Peat']
# Get the value of a variable at specific time and location
lat = 10.0
lon = -20.0
time = '2010-05-01'
peat_val = peat_var.sel(time=time, lat=lat, lon=lon, method='nearest').values
# Read multiple data files
from glob import glob
fnms = glob('BA'+YYYY+'??.nc')
nc_files = xr.open_mfdataset(fnms)
# Calculate the global total burned area time series (converted to Mha/mon)
ts_BA = nc_files['Total'].sum(dim=['lat','lon']).to_pandas()/1e6
# Plot the time series
ts_BA.plot()
There are three data discontinuities in this dataset: 1998 (when VIRS data are first used), 2001 (when Terra MODIS data are first used), and 2003 (when Aqua MODIS data are first used). Therefore, caution should be exercised when interpreting trends in the data across these breaks, as there may be confounding factors such as changes in satellite instrumentation that affect the observed burned area trends. we also caution against using the dataset for the preMODIS period (1997-2000) for trend or variability analysis at the level of a single grid cell or small multi-grid cell region. The data for this period has a lower spatial resolution of 1 degree, and therefore may not accurately capture local-scale variations in burned area.
If you use this dataset, please cite the following paper:
Chen, Y., Hall, J., van Wees, D., Andela, N., Hantson, S., Giglio, L., van der Werf, G., Morton, D. C., & Randerson, J. T. (2023). Multi-decadal trends and variability in burned area from the 5th version of the Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED5). AGU Advances, submitted.
The data is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
This dataset is provided as-is, without any warranty, express or implied. The dataset author is not responsible for any errors or omissions in the data, or for any consequences arising from the use of the data.
If you have any questions or feedback regarding the dataset, please contact the dataset author Yang Chen (yang.chen@uci.edu).