TREE-RING BASED FIRE HISTORY FILE NAMES AND FORMATS File location: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/tree_event_info.txt Content: I. International Multiproxy Paleo-fire Database (IMPD) File Naming Conventions A. IMPD Filename conventions B. Filenames and extensions for standard format metadata files II. Tree-Ring Fire Event File Format III. Establishment Data File Format IV. Fire Scar and Establishment metadata (documentation) file format V. Supplemental Data File Formats Appendix A. Tree-ring Fire Event FHX Sample File Appendix B. FHX Codes This file details fire history tree event-based file names and formats. For more information about paleofire data in general, see our Introduction to Fire History Reconstruction at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/impd_data_intro.txt and the IMPD homepage at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/products/paleoclimatology/fire-history I. International Multiproxy Paleo-fire Database (IMPD) File Naming Conventions All IMPD data sites all have data and documentation (additional metadata information) files, and supplemental files which begin with the sites eight-character unique IMPD Code, which is assigned by an IMPD Data Manager. In addition, all IMPD data stites have associated metadata formatted in standard formats including: JSON, ISO, and DIF. A. IMPD Filename conventions Filenames: The first two characters represent the two letter International Organization for Standardization (ISO) country code (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ISO_3166_country_codes). The next three characters represent the site code, and the last three characters are a sequential numeric index used to uniquely identify files for sites with replicate studies, or those with duplicate country and site codes. The name of each Tree-Ring Fire Event File will be the eight-character IMPD code. The name of each documentation (metadata) file will be the IMPD code, or the IMPD code followed by ‘-noaa’. The name of each supplemental file will have the eight-character IMPD code prepended to the beginning of the filename provided by the contributor. Extensions: - Tree-Ring Fire Event data files all have an extension of "fhx". - Establishment data files all have an extension of "dat". - Related documentation (additional metadata information) files for both have the extension of "txt". - Supplemental information files have an extension standard for their data type, e.g, CSV, PDF, PNG. B. Filenames and extensions for standard format metadata files The metadata for every IMPD Site is output to several standard metadata format files including: JSON, DIFF, ISO. These are located on the IMPD website at the following locations: JSON: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/published/paleo/json/ ISO: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/published/paleo/iso/xml/ DIF: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/metadata/published/paleo/dif/xml/ The filename of each metadata file begins with “noaa-fire-”, followed by an integer representing the numeric IMPD Site identifier. Links to these files are available from the results of the Fire History Data Search application and API (at URL: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/paleo-search/?dataTypeId=12 ) The extension for JSON is “.json”, and the extension for ISO and DIF is “.xml”. The JSON (Javascript Object Notation format) format contains the most complete metadata and is the format returned by the Fire History Search API ( https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/paleo-search/api ). II. Tree-Ring Fire Event File Format The Tree-Ring Fire Event files are provided in the FHX (fire history exchange format). Open Access software programs are available to create, read and use the FHX files at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/tree_event_software.txt The structure of an FHX data file is as follows (note that line numbers listed refer to those demonstrated in the example file (see Appendix A.), but may vary due to the variable line length of the comments section): The first 30 lines contain the site information. Each line is labeled, and should be self explanatory. Line 31 begins the comments section, which is variable in length and can be up to 80 lines long, and is accompanied by line 32 which marks the end of the comments section. Line 33 is blank, and line 34 reads either "FHX2 FORMAT" or "FIRE2 FORMAT" to indicate that the file is an FHX2 file. Line 35 contains the starting year for the data matrix, the number of trees included in the matrix, and the number of characters used for the sample codes. For example, the line "1400 5 8" indicates that the data begin in 1400, that data are included for 5 trees, and that their sample codes are 8 characters long. The next several lines contain the sample codes, with each tree labeled vertically in a single column. The number of lines is variable according to the number given in line 35, but they are followed by an additional, blank line. This is demonstrated by lines 36 through 44 in the example file (See Appendix A.). The remaining lines contain the data matrix. Each sample is represented by a column, while each row contains the fire history information for the year. The fire history information is represented using a single designated symbol (See Appendix B.) to describe each feature. III. Establishment Data File Format All data files are UTF-8 encoded text files, and each data file contains 2 sections; a Comments section, and a Data section. The Comments section includes site information, sampling methods, publications, etc., and all Comment lines begin with a pound sign (#). The Data section begins with a listing of the variables. Each variable is listed with a sequential integer, which corresponds to the position of the data value for that variable in the data section. The data then follow in tabular format. IV. Fire Scar and Establishment metadata (documentation) file format: The Tree-ring Fire Event and Establishment metadata (documentation) files are UTF-8 encoded text files which contain data and additional information provided by the investigator, e.g., identification, site information, provenance, species measured, sample storage location. V. Supplemental Data File Formats and Naming Conventions Supplemental files are provided by the contributor, or the IMPD. These files represent additional data pertinent to the study including individual tree information, and fire history chronology charts. The format of the file will be appropriate for the type of data it represents. The content of the file will be described in the site metadata (documentation) file described above. Appendix A. Tree-ring Fire Event FHX Sample File Note: the following information is also available online at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/fire_scar_sample.txt Example Tree-Ring Fire Event, Fire Scar Dates FHX2 data file. The name of this file would be "ussam001.fhx". Note: line numbers are for explanatory purposes only and are not included in the actual data files. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1 Name of site : Sample 2 Site code : SAM 3 Collection date: 4 Collectors : 5 Crossdaters : 6 Number samples : 7 Species name : 8 Common name : 9 Habitat type : 10 Country : United States 11 State : 12 County : 13 Park/Monument : 14 National Forest: 15 Ranger district: 16 Township : 17 Range : 18 Section : 19 Quarter section: 20 UTM easting : 21 UTM northing : 22 Latitude : 23 Longitude : 24 Topographic map: 25 Lowest elev : 26 Highest elev : 27 Slope : 28 Aspect : 29 Area sampled : 30 Substrate type : 31 Begin comments BELOW this line: 32 End comments ABOVE this line. 33 34 FHX2 FORMAT 35 1400 5 8 36 SSSSS 37 AAAAA 38 MMMMM 39 PPPPP 40 LLLLL 41 EEEEE 42 00000 43 12345 44 45 ....[ 1400 46 ...{. 1401 47 .[{.. 1402 48 {L..D 1403 49 .|..| 1404 50 UE.EU 1405 51 ||.|| 1406 52 ||u|| 1407 Appendix B. Fire History Exchange Format (FHX) Codes Note: the following information is also available online at: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/pub/data/paleo/firehistory/fhx2_codes.txt Symbols used in the FHX data format and their explanations: [ left square bracket: pith date, the very inside date possible on the tree ] right square bracket: bark date, the very outside date possible on the tree { left curly bracket: the innermost date possible on the tree - pith is not present } right curly bracket: the outermost date possible on the tree - bark is not present . a period: a "null" year - a dated tree ring for which no information on fire history is available, e.g., the ring formed prior to the initial scarring event | a vertical line (or "pipe" symbol): a "recorder" year - a dated tree ring that formed after the initial scarring event, but contains no scar D,d a fire scar (uppercase) or injury (lowercase) situated in the dormant position, between the previous years=s latewood and the current year's earlywood E,e a fire scar (uppercase) or injury (lowercase) situated in the early (one-third) portion of the earlywood M,m a fire scar (uppercase) or injury (lowercase) situated in the middle (one-third) portion of the earlywood L,l a fire scar (uppercase) or injury (lowercase) situated in the latter (one-third) portion of the earlywood A,a a fire scar (uppercase) or injury (lowercase) situated in the latewood U,u a fire scar or injury for which the position could not be determined --- end of file ---