Mapping Wildfire Burn Severity in Southern California

Learning Unit Description:

The Integrated Geospatial Education and Technology Training Project (iGETT) presents a series of Learning Units (LU) designed to incorporate federal land remote sensing data into Geographic Information System (GIS) instruction. The Post-Fire Burn Assessment LU, by Christine Lewis of Diablo Valley College, uses real-world data from the 2003 "Old Fire" which occurred in Southern California, to examine and map burn severity across the area. Students will use this data to analyze the burned area using ITTVIS ENVI software & the ESRI ArcGIS Spatial Analyst tool.

The iGETT Learning Units amount to about two weeks of instruction and are designed for use both as “skills-based case studies and building blocks for new courses.” All LUs are intended for students with a basic understanding of GIS. Each LU includes three core documents, an instructor’s guide, a student guide, and a curriculum support document, as well as the remote sensing data needed to complete the unit. Completion of this seven-part lesson should take two to three weeks of class time. The activity is appropriate for introductory or intermediate GIS students, and requires students have a basic understanding of remote sensing and basic GIS software skills. 

Upon completion of the lesson, students should have developed map reading skills, critical thinking in assessing and using data, skills in data management, and the ability to manipulate data in GIS software. 

For orientation purposes, viewers should begin with Lewis_Thumbnail .pdf, which offers a description of the LU as well as an overview of topics covered, required software, and the intended audience.

Lesson Contents:

The attached files associated with this LU exist in a variety of formats and a variety of geospatial data file types.

Below is a list of the files contained within the .zip attachment. The size of each file is included in parenthesis.

BN_Lewis.zip

• Documents
  • Curriculum Support Document (BurnSeverity_Lewis_CG.pdf 129KB)
  • Instructor Guide (Lewis_IG_Final(4).pdf 631KB)
  • Student Handout (Lewis_SH_Final.pdf 4.9MB)
  • Lesson Overview (Lewis_Thumbnail .pdf 177KB)
• Data
  • Lewis_Data (Lewis_Data.rar)
    • Image
      • fire-631.jpg
      • sanberdofire.jpg
    • Landsat
      • ​​PostFire (no contents)
      • PreFire
        • ​​(L5040036_03620021116_GCP.txt 19KB)
        • (L5040036_03620021116_MTL.txt 66KB)
        • (PreFire_Datacube_REF.dat 61.1MB)
        • (PreFire_Datacube_REF.hdr 440 bytes)
        • (README.GTF 9KB)
    • Misc
      • ​​(Extent.evf 952 bytes)
    • Shapes
      • (OLD_Fire_.dbf 952 bytes)
      • (OLD_Fire.dbf 952 bytes)
      • (OLD_Fire.prj 425 bytes)
      • (OLD_Fire.shp 28KB)
      • (OLD_Fire.shp.xml 69KB)
      • (OLD_Fire.shx 108 bytes)
      • (ownership_.dbf 5KB)
      • (ownership.dbf 5KB)
      • (ownership.prj 425 bytes)
      • (ownership.shp 54KB)
      • (ownership.shp.xml 14KB)
      • (ownership.shx 652 bytes)