EROS work on fire activity in the United States includes the creation of an atlas of fire perimeters for fires occurring on U.S. National Wildlife Refuges from 1984 through 2013. Fire Atlas perimeter data provide information to refuge managers as they plan land management activities for their units.
EROS analysts use data provided by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which include a name for the fire, an associated discovery date, a single point location, whether the ignition was planned or unplanned, and the number of acres burned, to help determine where the fire has burned on the landscape. They use Landsat imagery to detect and delineate the burn scars. High-resolution imagery and refuge maps are also used to link the provided point reference data to the individual burns. The completed perimeter maps are returned to refuge managers.
EROS analysts are currently mapping fires for refuges in the midwestern region of the U.S. and are beginning work on refuges located in the southwest.
