The Upland Heath Swamps Plot Network Fire History Data Package records the history of fire across 54 established swamp monitoring sites in upland swamps scattered throughout the study area (Keith and Myerscough 1993). The fire history prior to the establishment of plots in 1983 has been compiled from records and maps held by Sydney Catchment Authority and the National Parks and Wildlife Service including wildfires and prescribed burns (Keith et al. 2006). Since 1982, fire occurrences on the plots have been verified by personal observations (David Keith). Spatial distributions of upland swamp vegetation was interpreted visually from aerial photography flow in 1960 and 1998, and the data were digitally captured and stored. The Upland Heath Swamps Plot Network research plots were established in 1983. A synopsis of related data packages which have been collected as part of the Upland Heath Swamps Plot Network’s full program is provided at http://www.ltern.org.au/index.php/ltern-plot-networks/upland-heath-swamps.

This product provides locations of areas affected by fire including the approximate day of burning. Inputs are daily day time observations from MODIS sensors on Terra and Aqua. Observations are atmospherically corrected and the resulting time series is investigated for sudden changes in reflectance, persistent over multiple days. Variations in observation and illumination geometry are taken into account through application of a kernel driven Bidirectional Reflectance Distribution Function (BRDF) model.

Fire Frequency is derived from a time series of burnt area maps (derived from the Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR)) and provides the average number of fires affecting an area in the given time period. It is the inverse of the fire return interval.

The record contains information on the annual fire history of 33 one-hectare plots in Karawatha Forest Park, Karawatha Peri-Urban Site, South-East Queensland. The plots are at 500 m intervals in a grid that covers the entire Park. Each plot follows the elevational contour and is 250 m long x 40 m wide. The data presented is on fire event history for each plot for the years 2000 to 20006, time since fire in each plot and the average frequency of fires in each plot per year.