Tree Mortality from Fires and Beetles in Western U.S. Forests

NASA's dataset estimates annual tree mortality from fires and bark beetles across western U.S. forestland from 2003 to 2012. Mortality is quantified as the amount of aboveground carbon stored in killed trees, expressed in megagrams of carbon per square kilometer. The data was generated at 1-kilometer resolution by combining remote sensing-derived tree biomass and disturbance datasets.

Use Cases

• Modeling carbon emissions from forest disturbances using annual aboveground carbon mortality estimates.
• Analyzing spatial patterns of bark beetle outbreaks and fire severity across the western U.S.
• Assessing interannual variability in forest disturbance impacts over a decade-long period.
• Incorporating uncertainty estimates from Monte Carlo simulations into ecological risk assessments.
• Mapping combined mortality from two major forest stressors at a consistent 1-km resolution.

Strengths

• Provides a decadal time series (2003-2012) for analyzing trends in forest disturbance.
• Includes annual uncertainty maps generated via a Monte Carlo approach for biomass and disturbance severity.
• Offers a unified spatial product combining mortality from two major drivers (fire and beetles) at 1-km resolution.

Limitations

• Column names and exact row/record counts are not provided by any source, limiting detailed data understanding.
• Conflicting last updated dates exist between platforms (2012 vs. 2026), creating uncertainty about data currency.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Collection Method

Combined tree aboveground carbon and disturbance datasets derived largely from remote sensing.

Time Range

2003 to 2012

Freshness

2026-03-12 20:59:33.600119

Geography

Forestland in the continental western United States