The International Multiproxy Paleofire Database (IMPD) is an archive of fire history data derived from natural proxies such as tree scars and charcoal and sediment records. The IMPD was established with guidance from an advisory board to provide a permanent repository for high-quality paleofire records from around the world. For more information about paleofire data, see our Introduction to Fire History Reconstruction.
Accessing Data at the World Data Service for Paleoclimatology
Search Fire History Datasets
Search through fire history studies using Investigator, Title, Location Name, Parameters, and Latitude/Longitude Bounds.
Search All Paleoclimatology Data
Access a free text search of our entire archive.
Interactive Map
Select study locations by region, proximity to a point, or text-based attributes.
Google Earth Map
Locate and download fire history studies using a Google Earth map interface. Google Earth must be installed to use this search tool.
NCEI Paleo Web Service
Use the NCEI Paleo Web Service to access fire history study metadata records.
Browse Fire History Datasets
Global Charcoal Database
The Global Charcoal Database contains the complete set of charcoal site, sample, and dating data. There are two archived versions at NCEI:
- Version 1 used in the paper: Power, M.J., et al., 2008: Changes in fire regimes since the Last Glacial Maximum: an assessment based on a global synthesis and analysis of charcoal data. Climate Dynamics, 30, 887–907, doi:10.1007/s00382-007-0334-x.
- Version 3 used in the paper: Marlon, J.R., et al., 2015: Reconstructions of biomass burning from sediment charcoal records to improve data-model comparisons. Biogeosciences, 13, 3325–3244, doi:10.5194/bg-13-3225-2016.
Documentation
- Tree-Ring Based Fire History File Names and Formats: A description of the file naming conventions and the file formats used in our fire scar data archive.
- Charcoal-Sediment Based Fire History File Names and Formats: A description of the file naming conventions and the charcoal sediment data file format.
Contributing Data
To contribute to the fire history archive, review our instructions for contributing data. Prospective data providers can email paleo@noaa.gov to submit data and study description information.
