Investigating the Relationship Between Topographic Variables and Wildfire Burn Severity

Linh Nguyen Van and Giha Lee ()
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Linh Nguyen Van: School of Advanced Science and Technology Coverage, Kyungpook National University, Sangju 37224, Republic of Korea
Giha Lee: School of Advanced Science and Technology Coverage, Kyungpook National University, Sangju 37224, Republic of Korea

Geographies, 2025, vol. 5, issue 3, 1-17

Abstract: Wildfire behavior and post-fire effects are strongly modulated by terrain, yet the relative influence of individual topographic factors on burn severity remains incompletely quantified at landscape scales. The Composite Burn Index (CBI) provides a field-calibrated measure of severity, but large-area analyses have been hampered by limited plot density and cumbersome data extraction workflows. In this study, we paired 6150 CBI plots from 234 U.S. wildfire events (1994–2017) with 30 m SRTM DEM, extracting mean elevation, slope, and compass aspect within a 90 m buffer around each plot to minimize geolocation noise. Topographic variables were grouped into ecologically meaningful classes—six elevation belts (≤500 m to >2500 m), six slope bins (≤5° to >25°), and eight aspect octants—and their relationships with CBI were evaluated using Tukey HSD post hoc comparisons. Our findings show that all three factors exerted highly significant influences on severity ( p < 0.001): mean CBI peaked in the 1500–2000 m belt (0.42 higher than lowlands), rose almost monotonically with steepness to slopes > 20° (0.37 higher than <5°), and was greatest on east- and northwest-facing slopes (0.19 higher than south-facing aspects). Further analysis revealed that burn severity emerges from strongly context-dependent synergies among elevation, slope, and aspect, rather than from simple additive effects. By demonstrating a rapid, reproducible workflow for terrain-aware severity assessment entirely within GEE, the study provides both methodological guidance and actionable insights for fuel-management planning, risk mapping, and post-fire restoration prioritization.

Keywords: burn severity; composite burn index; topography (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q1 Q15 Q5 Q53 Q54 Q56 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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