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An objective of this Assessing Burn Severity project was to form a spectral library of endmembers of the major surface component materials encountered on the wildfires we sampled in western Montana mixed conifer forest, southern California chaparral, and interior Alaska spruce forest. Within each of these three regions, we have further organized the spectral endmembers into functional groups:

  1. green (photosynthetic) vegetation
  2. non-photosynthetic vegetation
  3. soil and/or rock
  4. char and/or ash spectra

A digital photo of the endmember material, a graph of the endmember spectrum, and a downloadable ASCII file of the actual spectrum is provided. We encourage users to download these endmember spectra for SMA of imagery within these regions, both for burn severity or other applications.

Green (photosynthetic) Vegetation
Material Name Wildfire Sampled Material Photo Spectral Graph ASCII Data
Green Alder Taylor Complex green-alder.jpg grnalder.jpg grnalder.txt
Green Aspen Taylor Complex green-aspen.jpg grnaspen.jpg grnaspen.txt
Green Balsam Poplar Taylor Complex green-balsam-poplar.jpg grnbpopl.jpg grnbpopl.txt
Green Birch Taylor Complex green-paper-birch.jpg grnbirch.jpg grnbirch.txt
Green Black Spruce Taylor Complex green-black-spruce.jpg grnspruc.jpg grnspruc.txt
Green Blueberry Taylor Complex -- grnblubr.jpg grnblubr.txt
Green and Brown Moss and Green Liverwort Taylor Complex green-brown-moss-and-liverwort.jpg mosswort.jpg mosswort.txt
Green Colts Foot Taylor Complex green-crows-foot.jpg coltfoot.jpg coltfoot.txt
Green Dwarf Bog Birch Resprouts Taylor Complex green-dwarf-birch-resprout.jpg dwrfbrch.jpg dwrfbrch.txt
Green Feather Moss Taylor Complex green-feather-moss.jpg grnfeath.jpg grnfeath.txt
Green Fireweed Taylor Complex green-fireweed.jpg fireweed.jpg fireweed.txt
Green Grass Taylor Complex green-grass.jpg grngrass.jpg grngrass.txt
Green Horsetail Taylor Complex green-horsetail.jpg grnhorse.jpg grnhorse.txt
Green Willow Resprouts Taylor Complex green-salix.jpg grnsalix.jpg grnsalix.txt
Non-Photosynthetic Vegetation
Material Name Wildfire Sampled Material Photo Spectral Graph ASCII Data
Dead Aspen Logs Taylor Complex uncharred-dead-aspen-bark.jpg dedaspen.jpg dedaspen.txt
Dead Birch Logs Taylor Complex uncharred-dead-birch-bark.jpg dedbirch.jpg dedbirch.txt
Dead Feather Moss Taylor Complex dead-gray-feathermoss.jpg dedfeath.jpg dedfeath.txt
Uncharred Dead Spruce Branch Taylor Complex uncharred-dead-spruce-twigs.jpg dedspruc.jpg dedspruc.txt
Dead Uncharred Wood Taylor Complex uncharred-weathered-spruce-wood.jpg deadwood.jpg deadwood.txt
Mineral Soil and/or Rock
Material Name Wildfire Sampled Material Photo Spectral Graph ASCII Data
Parking Area Taylor Complex -- parking.jpg parking.txt
Char and/or Ash
Material Name Wildfire Sampled Material Photo Spectral Graph ASCII Data
Ash Taylor Complex ash.jpg ash.jpg ash.txt
Charred Duff on Surface Taylor Complex charred_duff.jpg charduff.jpg charduff.txt
Charred Tree Taylor Complex charred_spruce_bark.jpg chartree.jpg chartree.txt