For the latest forecasts and critical weather information, visit weather.gov.
Topofire Soil Moisture Modeling to Support Drought Management and Develop an Updated KBDI for Wildfire Management

The objective of this project is to upgrade the Topofire model, a soil water balance model that includes topography, solar radiation, and snow, among other features. The research team will:
- Generate a near real time, high-resolution (250m grid) soil moisture dataset for the coterminous United States
- Develop a revised, more physically accurate version of the Keetch-Byram Drought Index (a real-time fire potential index dataset) called "KBDI-ET," that can be incorporated into the Wildland Fire Assessment System managed by the U.S. Forest Service.
These high-resolution gridded datasets will provide critical new tools to support both drought management and wildfire danger assessment.
For more information, please contact Elise Osenga (elise.osenga@noaa.gov).
Research Snapshot
What to expect from this research
Daily, near real-time, high-resolution (250m) gridded soil moisture estimates and KBDI-ET estimates (to support wildfire danger assessments).
To learn more about this and other related research, watch a recording of the November 2022 soil moisture seminar, Soil Moisture and Wildfire Webinar: Improving Fire Danger Rating Systems.
Related Data & Maps
Topofire is a topographically resolved wildfire danger and drought monitoring system for the contiguous U.S.