SAFARI 2000: Pre- and Post-fire Spectral Reflectance and Biomass in Zambia

Experimental burns in Zambia's Western Province during August and September 2000 provide data for analyzing fire impacts in dambo grasslands and miombo woodlands. This dataset contains three measurement sets: field spectroradiometer reflectance along transects and plots, leaf reflectance/transmittance for three tree species, and calculations integrating biomass with Landsat-equivalent reflectance to estimate combustion completeness. The data is stored in CSV files, with detailed methodology in a companion PDF.

Use Cases

• Modeling combustion completeness based on pre- and post-fire spectral reflectance changes in green, red, and near-infrared wavelengths.
• Calibrating satellite-derived fire severity indices using ground-based spectroradiometer measurements from experimental burns.
• Analyzing the spectral properties of pure components like soil, vegetation, and charcoal for mixture modeling.
• Studying the biophysical differences in fire effects between hydromorphic grasslands (dambos) and woodlands.
• Investigating leaf-level optical properties (reflectance and transmittance) for key miombo tree species.

Strengths

• Data is part of the coordinated SAFARI 2000 Third Intensive Field Campaign, ensuring standardized collection.
• Includes detailed, ground-truthed measurements of both spectral reflectance and physical biomass pre- and post-fire.
• Covers two distinct Zambian ecosystems (dambo grasslands and miombo woodlands) for comparative analysis.

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low: column names, row counts, and file sizes are not provided in any source.
• Conflicting last-update dates exist between platforms (2000-09-04 on NASA Earthdata vs. 2026-04 09 on Data.gov), suggesting potential metadata errors.
• Documentation is external in a PDF, which may not be immediately accessible if the FTP link is broken.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Field measurements using a FieldSpec UV/VNIR Spectroradiometer and an External Integrating Sphere, collected during experimental burns.

Time Range

August and September 2000

Freshness

2000-09-04 23:59:59.999000

Geography

Western Province of Zambia, specifically near Kaoma