LANDFIRE 2022 Forest Canopy Height (CH) HI

LANDFIRE's (LF) 2022 Forest Canopy Height (CH) describes the average height of the top of the canopy for a stand. CH is used in the calculation of Canopy Bulk Density (CBD) and Canopy Base Height (CBH). CH supplies information for fire behavior models, such as FARSITE (Finney 1998), that can determine the starting point of embers in the spotting model, wind reductions, and the volume of crown fuels. To create this product, plot level CH values are calculated using the canopy fuel estimation software, Forest Vegetation Simulator (FVS). Pre-disturbance Canopy Cover and CH are used as predictors of disturbed CH using a linear regression equation per Fuel Vegetation Type (FVT), disturbance type/severity, and time since disturbance. CH is used in the calculation of Canopy Bulk Density (CBD) and Canopy Base Height (CBH). In LF 2022, fuel products are created with LF 2016 Remap vegetation in areas that were un-disturbed in the last ten years. To designate disturbed areas where CH is modified, the aggregated Annual Disturbance products from 2013 to 2022 in the Fuel Disturbance (FDist) product are used. All existing disturbances between 2013-2022 are represented in the LF 2022 update, and the products are intended to be used in 2023 (the year of release). The "capable" year terminology used in LF 2020 and LF 2016 Remap is no longer specified, due to reduction in latency from when a disturbance occurs to the release date of fuel products accounting for that disturbance. However, users should still consider adjusting fuel layers for disturbances that occurred after the end of the 2022 fiscal year (after October 1st, 2022) when using the LF 2022 fuel products. Because those changes would not be accounted for. Learn more about LF 2022 at https://landfire.gov/lf_230.php .