Boreal Fire Burned Area and Emissions in Alaska and Canada, 2001-2018

Alaska, Yukon, and Northwest Territories are covered by this dataset of daily fire ignitions, burned area, and carbon emissions from 2001 to 2018. It was produced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) using MODIS satellite data and field estimates. The data provides 500-meter resolution estimates with associated uncertainty measures.

Use Cases

• Modeling carbon emissions from boreal wildfires based on per-pixel consumption estimates.
• Analyzing spatiotemporal patterns of fire ignitions based on daily location data.
• Studying the relationship between fire weather variables and burn severity as described in the methodology.
• Validating regional fire emissions inventories using the 500-meter resolution burned area maps.

Strengths

• 18-year temporal coverage from 2001 to 2018.
• 500-meter spatial resolution for detailed analysis.
• Includes daily estimates for burned area, emissions, and ignition locations with uncertainty measures.
• Methodology integrates satellite data (MODIS), fire perimeter databases, and field-based statistical models.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific Alaskan and Canadian fire databases used.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Burned area retrieved from combining Alaskan and Canadian Large Fire Databases with MODIS satellite data. Carbon consumption estimated from a statistical model using field data and environmental predictors.

Time Range

2001-2018

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-12 22:02:42.512281; freshness should be verified.

Geography

Boreal regions of Alaska (USA), Yukon, and Northwest Territories (Canada)