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Annual Fire Scars - Landsat, QLD DES algorithm, QLD coverage

Created 25/06/2025

Updated 25/06/2025

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The data set is a statewide annual composite of fire scars (burnt area) derived from all available Landsat 5, 7 and 8 images acquired over the period January to December using time series change detection. Fire scars are automatically detected and mapped using dense time series of Landsat imagery acquired over the period 1987 - present. In addition, from 2013, products have undergone significant quality assessment and manual editing. The automated Landsat fire scar map products covering the period 1987-2012 were validated using a Landsat-derived data set of over 500,000 random points sampling the spatial and temporal variability. On average, over 80% of fire scars captured in Landsat imagery have been correctly mapped with less than 30% false fire rate. These error rates are significantly reduced in the edited 2013-2016 fire scar data sets, although this has not been quantified. For the 2016 annual fire scar composite, the manual editing stage incorporated Landsat and Sentinel 2A imagery (resampled to match Landsat spatial resolution), allowing for increased cloud-free ground observations, and an associated reduction in the number of missed fires (not quantified). Sentinel 2A images were primarily used to map fire scars that were otherwise undetectable in the Landsat sequence due to cloud cover/Landsat revisit time. Additionally, Landsat-7 SLC-Off imagery (affected by striping) was excluded from the 2016 annual composite. It is expected that these modifications should result in improved mapping accuracy for the 2016 period. A new fire scar detection algorithm has been developed, with a new edited product implemented in 2021.

Files and APIs

Additional Info

Field Value
Title Annual Fire Scars - Landsat, QLD DES algorithm, QLD coverage
Language eng
Licence Not Specified
Landing Page https://data.gov.au/data/dataset/1b466aff-1aab-4a03-a49e-c253c6a72c74
Contact Point
Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network�s Data Discovery
deanna.vandenberg@des.qld.gov.au
Reference Period 01/01/1987 - 31/12/2016
Geospatial Coverage
Map data © OpenStreetMap contributors
{
  "coordinates": [
    [
      [
        138.0,
        -29.0
      ],
      [
        154.5,
        -29.0
      ],
      [
        154.5,
        -9.5
      ],
      [
        138.0,
        -9.5
      ],
      [
        138.0,
        -29.0
      ]
    ]
  ],
  "type": "Polygon"
}
Data Portal Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network

Data Source

This dataset was originally found on Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network "Annual Fire Scars - Landsat, QLD DES algorithm, QLD coverage". Please visit the source to access the original metadata of the dataset:
https://geonetwork.tern.org.au/geonetwork/srv/eng/csw/dataset/annual-fire-scars-landsat-qld-des-algorithm-qld-coverage