Potential Total Smoke Production Index

This metric is an index of the potential smoke production (represented by particulate matter that is 2.5 microns or less in diameter, or PM2.5) that could be emitted for a given 30-meter pixel under fire weather conditions that produce high severity fire effects. By showing spatial variation in potential smoke emissions under standardized fuel moisture conditions, this index is intended to help identify potential emissions hotpots within a region if a high severity wildfire occurs in the future. It may be useful for regional scale planning and/or prioritization.

However, the actual moistures and fire weather conditions under which these fuels may convert to smoke will vary; therefore, the map does not represent actual smoke production (PM2.5 emissions) during an actual fire event. For data users interested in near-term smoke forecasts that reflect the environmental drivers of emissions, project-specific modeling tools are recommended. For example, the BlueSky Playground (https://tools.airfire.org/playground) can tailor model inputs based on the fuel and moisture conditions observed or planned for in the project area of interest.

Potential smoke emissions do not consider the probability of a fire or the transport of smoke to more distant locations; they only reflect what would happen locally if a pixel were to burn.

Data and Resources

Additional Info

Field Value
Last Updated January 17, 2025, 06:43 (UTC)
Created January 17, 2025, 06:43 (UTC)
category /Air Quality/Particulate Matter
collection_name California Landscape Metrics
creation_method Potential TOTAL smoke production index is the smoke production expected for a given pixel under severe fire weather conditions. It is based on model outputs from the First Order Fire Effects Model (FOFEM) developed by the U.S. Forest Service (Spatial FOFEM: https://www.firelab.org/project/fofem-fire-effects-model). Key drivers (and model inputs) for this mapped variation are (1) fuel loads spatially extracted from the Landfire FCCS modeled fuelbeds map (LANDFIRE 2022 Update (LF 2.3.0),[ https://www.landfire.gov/lf_230.php](https://www.landfire.gov/lf_230.php)), and (2) fuel moistures, which are assigned to approximate the extremely dry conditions under which high severity fire generally occurs. The data are dimensionless and linearly normalized from 0 to 1 based on the statewide maximum value, with 1 being the maximum PM2.5 emissions per 30-m pixel for the given region. Fuels are taken from LANDFIRE LF2022_FCCS_220. Spatial FOFEM was run as implemented in FlamMap 6.2 (https://www.firelab.org/project/flammap). This index is a unitless number (ranging between 0 and 1) on a per 30-meter pixel basis, which is calculated using the following equation: Potential Total Smoke Production Index = Si / (maximum Si statewide) where Si = high severity PM2.5 emissions value for pixel i Calculated with SpatialFOFEM (First Order Fire Effects Model), embedded in FlamMap 6.2. Fuels are LCP and FCCS 2022 from LANDFIRE (LCP_LF2022_FBFM40_220_CONUS and LF2022_FCCS_220_CONUS). FOFEM Parameters used for this application are: Seasonality - (Summer) Canopy consumption '€“ 39% Duff moisture '€“ 20% 1 hour fuel moisture '€“ 4% 10-hour fuel moisture '€“ 6% 100-hour fuel moisture '€“ 8% 1000-hour fuel moisture '€“ 8% Analysis was done at UC Irvine.
data_resolution 30m Raster
data_units 0 1 , a unitless number serving as an index; on a per 30m pixel basis
data_vintage 2022
encoding utf8
file_name PotentialTotalSmoke_202209_202312_T1_v5
format GeoTiff
harvest_object_id 88f3a2d6-1a49-4f87-a870-b9e8d12170f6
harvest_source_id a2637971-af12-457f-ae4a-831d2202a539
harvest_source_title WIFIRE Commons
maximum_value 1.0
metric_definition_and_relevance This metric is an index of the potential smoke production (represented by particulate matter that is 2.5 microns or less in diameter, or PM2.5) that could be emitted for a given 30-meter pixel under fire weather conditions that produce high severity fire effects. By showing spatial variation in potential smoke emissions under standardized fuel moisture conditions, this index is intended to help identify potential emissions hotpots within a region if a high severity wildfire occurs in the future. It may be useful for regional scale planning and/or prioritization. However, the actual moistures and fire weather conditions under which these fuels may convert to smoke will vary; therefore, the map does not represent actual smoke production (PM2.5 emissions) during an actual fire event. For data users interested in near-term smoke forecasts that reflect the environmental drivers of emissions, project-specific modeling tools are recommended. For example, the BlueSky Playground (https://tools.airfire.org/playground) can tailor model inputs based on the fuel and moisture conditions observed or planned for in the project area of interest. Potential smoke emissions do not consider the probability of a fire or the transport of smoke to more distant locations; they only reflect what would happen locally if a pixel were to burn.
minimum_value 0.0
spatial {"type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [[[-124.5090833859125, 32.4242698701859], [-113.49380570277376, 32.4242698701859], [-113.49380570277376, 42.1119747450123], [-124.5090833859125, 42.1119747450123], [-124.5090833859125, 32.4242698701859]]]}
tier 1