LiDAR and Landsat change indices for the 2012 Pole Creek Fire

Changes in forest structure caused by the 2012 Pole Creek Fire in central Oregon were estimated using muti-temporal LiDAR and compared to multi-temporal spectral indices derived from Landsat. This data publication contains twenty-four estimates for change in forest structure, which were calculated by taking an absolute and relative difference in LiDAR metrics estimated for 2009 and 2013. These metrics include canopy cover, canopy density, canopy relief ratio, mean surface fuel height, and other point cloud statistics. Also included are twenty-one differenced spectral indices developed using Landsat images for 2011 and 2013. These include the delta normalized burn ratio (dNBR) and relative dNBR (RdNBR), as well as other indices that have been used to assess fire effects. LiDAR metrics were computed at 30-meter voxels to match the Landsat data. A mask, which is included in this data publication, was developed to exclude areas of water and snow that interfered with spectral change analysis. Pre-fire mountain pine beetle (MPB) outbreak and forest management were also identified to evaluate their effect on model performance. A pre-fire condition layer is included, which identifies portions of the study area as being affected or not affected by MPB and/or forest management, as well as being burned or unburned in the Pole Creek Fire.
These products were used to assess how well various spectral indices derived from Landsat imagery predict changes in forest structure inferred from LiDAR.
Original metadata date was 03/29/2018. Minor metadata updates were made on 11/12/2019.