Babeldaob Island wildfires (2012-2021)

Metadata:

Data_Quality_Information:

Attribute_Accuracy:

Attribute_Accuracy_Report:

Garmin Map GPS 60 was estimated at ± 7.5 meters (m). Georeferenced aerial photographs were estimated at ± 5 m. Satellite imagery were estimated at ± 5 m.

Accuracy assessment of fire classification methods is included in Dendy et al. (2022).

Dendy, Julian; Mesubed, Dino; Colin, Patrick L.; Giardina, Christian P.; Cordell, Susan; Holm, Tarita; Uowolo, Amanda. 2022. Dynamics of anthropogenic wildfire on Babeldaob Island (Palau) as revealed by fire history. Fire. 5(2): 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire5020045 and https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/64291

Logical_Consistency_Report:

The data are logically consistent, which was verified with quality assurance (QA) throughout the data collection process.

Completeness_Report:

One burned area polygon is missing a Photo ID. Satellite imagery (World View 1,2, and 3, and GEO1) from the DGEV online image service was used to check, correct, and supplement burned area archives from 2012 to 2015. Less accurate burned areas digitized from GPS tracks or aerial photos were removed from the data set. Some small number of fires was likely missed due to cloud cover, particularly from 2016 to 2021. Very small or obviously controlled fires were not digitized.

Lineage:

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: Palau Ministry of Finance (Palau Automated Land and Resource Information Service)

Publication_Date: Unknown

Title:

Babeldaob mangrove, state boundary, roads, and streams layers

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

Publication_Information:

Publisher: PALARIS

Type_of_Source_Media: Email

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Single_Date/Time:

Calendar_Date: 1987

Source_Currentness_Reference:

Publication Date

Source_Citation_Abbreviation:

PALARIS

Source_Contribution:

The Babeldaob mangrove layer, state boundary, roads, and streams layers were obtained from PALARIS, where they were created in the 2000’s. Layers obtained via personal communication: palaris@palaunet.com.

The mangrove layer was taken from a national vegetation layer, which was digitized by PALARIS from maps in Cole et al. (1987).

Cole, Thomas G.; Falanruw, Marjorie C.; MacLean, Colin D.; Whitesell, Craig D.; Ambacher, Alan H. 1987. Vegetation survey of the Republic of Palau. Resource Bulletin PSW-22. U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Pacific Southwest Forest and Range Experiment Station. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press. 13 p. https://doi.org/10.2737/PSW-RB-22

Source_Information:

Source_Citation:

Citation_Information:

Originator: TNC (The Nature Conservancy, Palau Field Office)

Publication_Date: Unknown

Title:

Babeldaob protected area layer

Geospatial_Data_Presentation_Form: vector digital data

Publication_Information:

Publication_Place: Palau

Publisher: The Nature Conservancy

Type_of_Source_Media: Email

Source_Time_Period_of_Content:

Time_Period_Information:

Single_Date/Time:

Calendar_Date: 2018

Source_Currentness_Reference:

Publication Date

Source_Citation_Abbreviation:

TNC

Source_Contribution:

The Protected Area layer was obtained from Mike Aulerio at TNC Palau Field Office in 2018 (maulerio@tnc.org).

Process_Step:

Process_Description:

Babeldaob_Wildfires_2012_2021:
Fire perimeters were hand drawn and burned area of polygons were generated with calculate geometry function, using handheld GPS coordinates, aerial photographs, and satellite images. Satellite imagery was used to supplement and correct earlier handheld GPS and aerial photo fires from 2012 to 2015. State boundary shapefiles were used to generate summary statistics of wildfires by state. Stream, mangrove, coastline, and road shapefiles were used to generate summary statistics for number of fires and percent of burned area within 10, 50 or 500 meters of streams, mangroves, coastline, and roads.

Babeldaob_Coast:
The island coastline, manually digitized in ArcMap by J. Dendy from a 2006 Quickbird mosaic satellite image, was used with the select by location tool in ArcMap to highlight burned areas within 10 meters.

Babeldaob_RepeatedBurnAreas_2012_2021:
The Intersect tool in ArcMap was used to generate overlaps of fires between years, and all intersects were merged into the larger repeated burns shapefile.

BabeldaobVeg_Mangrove:
The mangrove layer, which was taken from the Palau digitized vegetation map (Cole et al. 1987, digitized by PALARIS), was used with the select by location tool in ArcMap to highlight burned areas within 10 and 50 meters.

bdry_poly:
The boundaries of Babeldaob Island states, which was created by PALARIS, were used with the select by location tool in ArcMap to generate state burned area summaries.

FinalRoads2015_Merge:
The island road layer, which was created by PALARIS, was updated using 2015 WV2 mosaic imagery, and used with the select by location tool in ArcMap to highlight burned areas within 10 and 50 meters of roads.

Palau_Terrestrial_PAs:
The terrestrial protected areas on Babeldaob, which were taken from a regional Micronesia Challenge protected area 2018 shapefile from Mike Aulerio at The Nature Conservancy, Palau Field Office, were used with the select by location tool in ArcMap to highlight burned areas inside and within 50 meters of protected areas.

Streams:
The island streams layer, which was created by PALARIS, was used with the select by location tool in ArcMap to highlight burned areas within 10 and 50 meters of streams and rivers.

Process_Date: 2022

Spatial_Data_Organization_Information:

Direct_Spatial_Reference_Method: Vector

Point_and_Vector_Object_Information:

SDTS_Terms_Description:

SDTS_Point_and_Vector_Object_Type: GT-polygon composed of chains

Point_and_Vector_Object_Count: 1525

Spatial_Reference_Information:

Horizontal_Coordinate_System_Definition:

Planar:

Map_Projection:

Map_Projection_Name: WGS 1984 UTM Zone 53N

Transverse_Mercator:

Scale_Factor_at_Central_Meridian: 0.9996

Longitude_of_Central_Meridian: 135.0

Latitude_of_Projection_Origin: 0.0

False_Easting: 500000.0

False_Northing: 0.0

Planar_Coordinate_Information:

Planar_Coordinate_Encoding_Method: coordinate pair

Coordinate_Representation:

Abscissa_Resolution: 0.000000002220024164500956

Ordinate_Resolution: 0.000000002220024164500956

Planar_Distance_Units: meter

Geodetic_Model:

Horizontal_Datum_Name: D WGS 1984

Ellipsoid_Name: WGS 1984

Semi-major_Axis: 6378137.0

Denominator_of_Flattening_Ratio: 298.257223563

Entity_and_Attribute_Information:

Overview_Description:

Entity_and_Attribute_Overview:

Below you will find a list and description of the files included in this data publication.

VARIABLE DESCRIPTION FILE (1)

1. \Data\_Variable_Descriptions.csv: Comma-Separated Values (CSV) file containing a list and description of the variables found in each data file in this publication.


DATA FILES (9)

1. \Data\All_spatial_data.gpkg: OGC Geopackage (GPKG) containing data from all spatial data files (*.shp) included in this publication.


2. \Data\Babeldaob_Coast.shp: Shapefile containing the coastline of Babeldaob Island, based on a 2006 satellite image.

Attributes include:

FID = internal feature number automatically generated by Esri
Shape = feature geometry automatically generated by Esri
SHAPE_Leng = length of polygons in meters


3. \Data\Babeldaob_RepeatedBurnAreas_2012_2021.shp: Shapefile containing areas in Babeldaob Island that had repeated wildfires between 2012-2021.

Attributes include:

FID = internal feature number automatically generated by Esri
Shape = feature geometry automatically generated by Esri
Area = area in square meters


4. \Data\Babeldaob_Wildfires_2012-2021.shp: Shapefile containing the location of Babeldaob Island wildfires from 2012 through 2021. (Fields only refer to fires mapped with handheld GPS, but not every field is populated for every GPS mapped fire.)

Attributes include:

FID = internal feature number automatically generated by Esri
Shape = feature geometry automatically generated by Esri
Whyburned = reason for ignition (if known)
Area = area in square meters (within 5-7.5 meters)
FireDate = date of fire (populated if it was known for GPS and aerial photo mapped fires) (± 4 days for satellite imagery)
PhotoID = burned area identifier
FireTrack = date of GPS fire track
FireAge = estimated time between fire and fire track
Comments = comments which mostly include kind of satellite imagery used (World View 1, 2 and 3 and GEO1), but satellite type is not populated for 2016
VegBurned = summary of observations of burned vegetation
Invasives = invasive plants observed in burned area
FireYear = year of burn
Type = how wildfire areas were determine: Handheld GPS, Aerial Photo, or Satellite Imagery


5. \Data\BabeldaobVeg_Mangrove.shp: Shapefile containing the areal extent of mangrove vegetation for Babeldaob Island.

Attributes include:

FID = internal feature number automatically generated by Esri
Shape = feature geometry automatically generated by Esri
Id = unique id
Area = area in square meters


6. \Data\bdry_poly.shp: Shapefile containing state boundaries on Babeldaob Island.

Attributes include:

FID = internal feature number automatically generated by Esri
Shape = feature geometry automatically generated by Esri
AREA = area in square meters
PERIMETER = perimeter in meters
Name = Babeldaob State name


7. \Data\FinalRoads2015_Merge.shp: Shapefile containing Babeldaob Island roads based on an updates from a 2015 satellite image.

Attributes include:

FID = internal feature number automatically generated by Esri
Shape = feature geometry automatically generated by Esri
Length = length of line segment in meters


8. \Data\Palau_Terrestrial_PAs.shp: Shapefile containing protected areas of Babeldaob Island (polygons clipped at shoreline to display terrestrial protected areas only).

Attributes include:

FID = internal feature number automatically generated by Esri
Shape = feature geometry automatically generated by Esri
Id = identifier (not unique, values unknown)
AREA = area in square meters
Name = location name


9. \Data\Streams.shp: Shapefile containing Babeldaob Island streams composed from topographic maps.

Attributes include:

FID = internal feature number automatically generated by Esri
Shape = feature geometry automatically generated by Esri
LENGTH = length of line segment in meters

Entity_and_Attribute_Detail_Citation:

Dendy, Julian; Mesubed, Dino; Colin, Patrick L.; Giardina, Christian P.; Cordell, Susan; Holm, Tarita; Uowolo, Amanda. 2022. Dynamics of anthropogenic wildfire on Babeldaob Island (Palau) as revealed by fire history. Fire. 5(2): 45. https://doi.org/10.3390/fire5020045 and https://research.fs.usda.gov/treesearch/64291

Metadata_Reference_Information:

Metadata_Date: 20250122

Metadata_Contact:

Contact_Information:

Contact_Person_Primary:

Contact_Person: Julian Dendy

Contact_Organization: Coral Reef Research Foundation, Palau

Contact_Position: GIS Research Technician

Contact_Address:

Address_Type: mailing

Address: PO Box 1765

State_or_Province: Koror

Postal_Code: PW 96940

Country: Palau

Contact_Voice_Telephone: 670-488-5255

Contact_Electronic_Mail_Address: jdendy@hawaii.edu

Contact Instructions: This contact information was current as of original publication date. For current information see Contact Us page on: https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS.

Metadata_Standard_Name: FGDC Content Standard for Digital Geospatial Metadata

Metadata_Standard_Version: FGDC-STD-001-1998