Digital Earth Australia Fuel Moisture Content

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Maintenance and Update Frequency: weekly

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Purpose
The DEA Fuel Moisture Content (FMC) product is a proxy for the moisture content of vegetation obtained through remote sensing observations. It estimates the percentage of water mass relative to dry mass in living vegetation based on its spectral signature. Vegetation moisture is a critical variable for understanding vegetation flammability and fire potential.Values range from 0 – 300%. A value of 300% would mean there is approximately three times as much water (by weight) as dry plant material. A value of 100% means that water weight to dry plant material is roughly equal. A value of 0% means that there is almost no measured water content. Values in the range of 0 – 150% are particularly relevant to fire behaviour analysis, as this range is strongly associated with changes in vegetation flammability and the likelihood of ignition.FMC is derived from Sentinel 2A, 2B, and 2C satellite imagery at a 20 m resolution for all of Australia from 12 July 2015 to the present. This product shows FMC values calculated for each pixel in the corresponding Sentinel-2 scene with masking applied for cloud, cloud shadow, water, and terrain shadow.This product has some of the following applications: Monitoring and mapping the dryness of vegetation across different landscapes; predicting and assessing vegetation flammability and fire risk, including fire spread and intensity; modelling fire risk over time and across different ecosystems with changing climate conditions; and prioritising and evaluating fire, forestry, and utility agency management based on the dryness and the assessed fire risk of vegetation.Please note that this product should not be used to make safety of life decisions.