Postfire erosion modeling results using the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model for all large wildfires in California, 1984–2021

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Frequently anticipated questions:

What does this data set describe?

Title:
Postfire erosion modeling results using the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model for all large wildfires in California, 1984–2021
Abstract:
This is a shapefile containing polygons of watersheds that were burned in wildfires that occurred in California between 1984 and 2021. The Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model for postfire erosion was run on all watersheds for the first year following wildfire and the results of this modeling effort are included as attributes of each watershed polygon.
Supplemental_Information:
Any use of trade, product, or firm names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this Federal Geographic Data Committee-compliant metadata file is intended to document the dataset in nonproprietary form, as well as in Esri format, this metadata file may include some Esri-specific terminology.
  1. How might this data set be cited?
    Dow, Helen, 20240807, Postfire erosion modeling results using the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model for all large wildfires in California, 1984–2021: data release DOI:10.5066/P9CG3DRR, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Online Links:

    This is part of the following larger work.

    Dow, Helen W., Kostelnik, Jaime, Kean, Jason W., and Lindsay, Donald N., 2024, Postfire erosion estimates for large California wildfires that occurred between 1984 and 2021: data release DOI:10.5066/P9CG3DRR, U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center, Santa Cruz, CA.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Suggested Citation: Dow, H.W., Kostelnik, J., Kean, J.W., and Lindsay, D.N., 2024, Postfire erosion estimates for large California wildfires that occurred between 1984 and 2021: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/P9CG3DRR.
  2. What geographic area does the data set cover?
    West_Bounding_Coordinate: -124.205014
    East_Bounding_Coordinate: -115.178253
    North_Bounding_Coordinate: 42.632207
    South_Bounding_Coordinate: 32.554034
  3. What does it look like?
  4. Does the data set describe conditions during a particular time period?
    Beginning_Date: 1984
    Ending_Date: 2021
    Currentness_Reference:
    Wildfires that occurred during this time period were part of our study.
  5. What is the general form of this data set?
    Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: shapefile
  6. How does the data set represent geographic features?
    1. How are geographic features stored in the data set?
      This is a Vector data set. It contains the following vector data types (SDTS terminology):
      • G-polygon (23486)
    2. What coordinate system is used to represent geographic features?
      The horizontal datum used is D_WGS_1984.
      The ellipsoid used is WGS_1984.
      The semi-major axis of the ellipsoid used is 6378137.0.
      The flattening of the ellipsoid used is 1/298.257223563.
  7. How does the data set describe geographic features?
    BurnedWatersheds_LargeFires1984to2021_WEPPresults.shp
    Shapefile consisting of polygons of burned watersheds, results of the WEPP model, and watershed characteristics. (Source: Producer defined)
    fire_name
    The name of the wildfire, derived from MTBS data ‘Incid_Name’ to include underscores for ease of export from WEPP. (Source: Producer defined) A unique identification name assigned to each fire.
    fire_year
    The year the wildfire occurred in, derived from MTBS ‘Ig_Date’. (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:1985
    Maximum:2021
    Units:years
    Resolution:1
    utmzone
    The utm zone in which the wildfire occurred. (Source: Producer defined)
    ValueDefinition
    10SA 6-degree zone defined in the universal transverse Mercator projection.
    11SA 6-degree zone defined in the universal transverse Mercator projection.
    10TA 6-degree zone defined in the universal transverse Mercator projection.
    basin_id
    Identification number for each watershed within each wildfire. (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:1
    Maximum:2030
    Units:NA
    Resolution:1
    relief
    Maximum elevation within watershed minus minimum elevation. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:20
    Maximum:2442
    Units:meters
    Resolution:0.0001
    outlet_x
    The x-coordinate of the watershed’s outlet in the local UTM zone(either 10 or 11N). (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:208835.2842
    Maximum:791188.2039
    Units:meters
    Resolution:0.00001
    outlet_y
    The y-coordinate of the watershed’s outlet in the local UTM zone (either 10 or 11N). (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:3601311.03400
    Maximum:4719704.31900
    Units:meters
    Resolution:0.00001
    dr_area
    Drainage area of each watershed. (Source: producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0.100
    Maximum:45.0
    Units:square kilometers
    Resolution:0.001
    hill_sed
    WEPP result for postfire sediment eroded from hillslopes. Exact model results are shown even though the accuracy is likely much lower than the output resolution. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:233959518.734
    Units:kilograms
    fr_low
    Fraction of the watershed burned at low severity. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:1
    Units:unitless
    fr_mod
    Fraction of the watershed burned at moderate severity. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:1
    Units:unitless
    fr_high
    Fraction of the watershed burned at high severity. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:1
    Units:unitless
    precip_tot
    Total annual precipitation (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:45.5
    Maximum:4108.8
    Units:millimeters
    precip_dur
    Total annual duration of precipitation. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:33.9
    Maximum:2246.8
    Units:hours
    tp_med
    Annual median of CLIGEN-generated WEPP input parameter tp that defines the ratio of time to peak intensity to total storm duration. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0.0
    Maximum:0.1
    Units:unitless
    ip_med
    Annual median of CLIGEN-generated WEPP input parameter ip that defines the ratio of storm peak intensity to average intensity. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:1.0
    Maximum:6.4
    Units:unitless
    ub_hillsed
    WEPP result for sediment eroded from hillslopes in the unburned scenario (no SBS map). Exact model results are shown even though the accuracy is likely much lower than the output resolution. (Source: Producer defined)
    Range of values
    Minimum:0
    Maximum:94713194.2626
    Units:kilograms
    Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:
    This dataset contains one shapefile with all the WEPP modeling results for all watersheds modeled in WEPP as part of the associated study on postfire erosion from large fires in California between 1984 and 2021.
    Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation: U.S. Geological Survey

Who produced the data set?

  1. Who are the originators of the data set? (may include formal authors, digital compilers, and editors)
    • Helen Dow
  2. Who also contributed to the data set?
  3. To whom should users address questions about the data?
    U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
    Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
    2885 Mission Street
    Santa Cruz, CA

    831-427-4747 (voice)
    pcmsc_data@usgs.gov

Why was the data set created?

The information contained in this shapefile was used to produce estimates of annual postfire erosion across California. Watersheds were grouped by wildfire and by year for analysis. We then combined these WEPP results for each wildfire and fire year with estimates of the sediment mass contributed by postfire debris flows.

How was the data set created?

  1. From what previous works were the data drawn?
    MTBS data (source 1 of 2)
    Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) Agency, 2007, MTBS Geospatial Datasets: Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS), online.

    Online Links:

    Type_of_Source_Media: Digital
    Source_Contribution:
    We used the burn perimeters from MTBS to define the fire-affected region and produce watersheds to run in WEPP. We used the dNBR6 (classified difference normalized burn ratio) maps as input to WEPP.
    wepppy (source 2 of 2)
    Lew, Roger, and SrivAnu, 2021, wepppy-win-bootstrap: zenodo, online.

    Online Links:

    Type_of_Source_Media: Software
    Source_Contribution:
    We used the wepppy Python module presented in this publication and documented in the above zenodo link to run the Water Erosion Prediction Project (WEPP) model on all watershed polygons contained in this dataset.
  2. How were the data generated, processed, and modified?
    Date: 2022 (process 1 of 3)
    We used the shapefile of fire perimeters from MTBS to define the fire-affected region and created a shapefile of watersheds to run in the Water Erosion Prediction Project model (WEPP). Data sources used in this process:
    • MTBS data
    Data sources produced in this process:
    • watersheds
    Date: 2022 (process 2 of 3)
    We used the Python module called wepppy to run WEPP on the watershed polygons contained in this shapefile using dNBR6 burn severity maps from MTBS. We then joined the results of the WEPP model to the shapefile of watershed characteristics like relief and drainage area. Data sources used in this process:
    • watersheds
    • wepppy
    Date: 09-Oct-2024 (process 3 of 3)
    Minor edits were made to the metadata to correct the date formatting for a citation. No data were changed. (mau@usgs.gov)
  3. What similar or related data should the user be aware of?
    Dow, Helen W., East, Amy E., Sankey, Joel B., Warrick, Jonathan A., Kostelnik, Jaime, Lindsay, Donald N., and Kean, Jason W., 2024, Postfire sediment mobilization and its downstream implications across California, 1984–2021.

    Online Links:

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Dow, H.W., East, A., Sankey, J.B., Warrick, J., Kostelnik, J., Lindsay, D.N., and Kean, J.W., 2024, Postfire sediment mobilization and its downstream implications across California, 1984 – 2021: Journal of Geophysical Research Earth Surface, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024JF007725.
    Eidenshink, Jeff, Schwind, Brian, Brewer, Ken, Zhu, Zhi-Liang, Quayle, Brad, and Howard, Stephen, 2007, A Project for Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity.

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Eidenshink, J., Schwind, B., Brewer, K., Zhu, Z.-L., Quayle, B., & Howard, S. (2007). A Project for Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity. Fire Ecology, 3(1), 3–21. https://doi.org/10.4996/fireecology.0301003
    Lew, Roger, Dobre, Marian, Srivastava, Anurag, Brooks, Erin S., Elliot, William J., Robichaud, Peter R., and Flanagan, Dennis C., 2022, WEPPcloud: An online watershed-scale hydrologic modeling tool. Part I. Model description.

    Other_Citation_Details:
    Lew, R., Dobre, M., Srivastava, A., Brooks, E. S., Elliot, W. J., Robichaud, P. R., & Flanagan, D. C. (2022). WEPPcloud: An online watershed-scale hydrologic modeling tool. Part I. Model description. Journal of Hydrology, 127603.

How reliable are the data; what problems remain in the data set?

  1. How well have the observations been checked?
    There are numerous sources of uncertainty in the WEPP modeling such that a rigorous quantification of error was not feasible. For a detailed summary of all sources of uncertainty we refer the reader to publication associated with this data release.
  2. How accurate are the geographic locations?
    This dataset was created using Monitoring Trends in Burn Severity (MTBS) perimeters and digital elevation models (DEMs) in WEPP, both of which have a horizontal resolution of 30 m.
  3. How accurate are the heights or depths?
    5 m
  4. Where are the gaps in the data? What is missing?
    This dataset was checked for completeness and no data or attributes were intentionally left blank.
  5. How consistent are the relationships among the observations, including topology?
    This dataset was checked for logical consistency such that it should not contain any duplicated watersheds or nested basins.

How can someone get a copy of the data set?

Are there legal restrictions on access or use of the data?
Access_Constraints No access constraints
Use_Constraints USGS-authored or produced data and information are in the public domain from the U.S. Government and are freely redistributable with proper metadata and source attribution. Please recognize and acknowledge the U.S. Geological Survey as the originator(s) of the dataset and in products derived from these data.
  1. Who distributes the data set? (Distributor 1 of 1)
    U.S. Geological Survey - ScienceBase
    Denver Federal Center, Building 810, Mail Stop 302
    Denver, CO

    1-888-275-8747 (voice)
    sciencebase@usgs.gov
  2. What's the catalog number I need to order this data set? These data are available in shapefile format (BurnedWatersheds_LargeFires1984to2021_WEPPresults.shp and associated files) contained in a single zip file (BurnedWatersheds_LargeFires1984to2021_WEPPresults.zip) accompanied by CSDGM FGDC-compliant metadata.
  3. What legal disclaimers am I supposed to read?
    Unless otherwise stated, all data, metadata and related materials are considered to satisfy the quality standards relative to the purpose for which the data were collected. Although these data and associated metadata have been reviewed for accuracy and completeness and approved for release by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), no warranty expressed or implied is made regarding the display or utility of the data on any other system or for general or scientific purposes, nor shall the act of distribution constitute any such warranty.
  4. How can I download or order the data?
  5. What hardware or software do I need in order to use the data set?
    These data can be viewed with any geospatial software.

Who wrote the metadata?

Dates:
Last modified: 09-Oct-2024
Metadata author:
U.S. Geological Survey, Pacific Coastal and Marine Science Center
Attn: PCMSC Science Data Coordinator
2885 Mission Street
Santa Cruz, CA

831-427-4747 (voice)
pcmsc_data@usgs.gov
Metadata standard:
Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata (FGDC-STD-001-1998)
This page is <https://cmgds.marine.usgs.gov/catalog/pcmsc/DataReleases/ScienceBase/DR_P9CG3DRR/BurnedWatersheds_LargeFires1984to2021_WEPPresults_metadata.faq.html>
Generated by mp version 2.9.51 on Fri Oct 18 09:43:54 2024