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Fuel moisture content of vegetation in the UK, 2021-2023, measured as part of UK Fire Danger Rating System

These datasets contain sampled fuel moisture content data for vegetation, organic soil and leaf litter as part of the UK Fire Danger Rating System project funded by NERC (NE/T003553/1). The sampled vegetation comprises both live and dead heather, gorse, bracken, moor grass and moss. Where relevant, the canopy/leaves and stem were sampled separately. The datasets also contain associated information about the sample site characteristics (land cover class, elevation, slope and aspect) and meteorological variables (temperature, relative humidity and wind speed at the time of sampling). There are three datasets included which represent three separate studies: (i) UK-wide dataset which contains samples from sites across the UK from 2021-2023; (ii) North Yorkshire Moors dataset which contains samples from the North Yorkshire Moors, where sites were chosen to represent a combination of landscape characteristics, from five days in 2021; (iii) West Midlands dataset which contains samples from multiple volunteers on one day only across two sites. Full details about this dataset can be found at https://doi.org/10.5285/9334118f-3389-4a13-89a1-d75ec6fcc43a

Simple

Date (Publication)
2025-11-17
Identifier
https://catalogue.ceh.ac.uk/id/9334118f-3389-4a13-89a1-d75ec6fcc43a
Identifier
doi: / 10.5285/9334118f-3389-4a13-89a1-d75ec6fcc43a
Other citation details
Ivison, K., Belcher, C.M., Clay, G.D., Crawford, A.J., Doerr, S.H., Elliott, A., Graham, L.J., Lewis, C., Little, K., Morison, J.I.L., Nikonovas, T., Orpin, A., Stoll, E., Kettridge, N. (2025). Fuel moisture content of vegetation in the UK, 2021-2023, measured as part of UK Fire Danger Rating System. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre 10.5285/9334118f-3389-4a13-89a1-d75ec6fcc43a
Point of contact
  University of Birmingham - Nick Kettridge
Author
  University of Birmingham - Ivison, K.
Author
  University of Exeter - Belcher, C.M.
Author
  University of Manchester - Clay, G.D.
Author
  University of Exeter - Crawford, A.J.
Author
  Swansea University - Doerr, S.H.
Author
  University of Birmingham - Elliott, A.
Author
  University of Birmingham - Graham, L.J.
Author
  University of Birmingham - Lewis, C.
Author
  University of Birmingham - Little, K.
Author
  Forest Research - Morison, J.I.L.
Author
  Swansea University - Nikonovas, T.
Author
  University of Birmingham - Orpin, A.
Author
  University of the Highlands and Islands - Stoll, E.
Author
  University of Birmingham - Kettridge, N.
Owner
  University of Birmingham
Custodian
  NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
Publisher
  NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
  • Environmental Monitoring Facilities
Access constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
no limitations
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
This resource is available under the terms of the Open Government Licence
Use constraints
otherRestrictions Other restrictions
Other constraints
If you reuse this data, you should cite: Ivison, K., Belcher, C.M., Clay, G.D., Crawford, A.J., Doerr, S.H., Elliott, A., Graham, L.J., Lewis, C., Little, K., Morison, J.I.L., Nikonovas, T., Orpin, A., Stoll, E., Kettridge, N. (2025). Fuel moisture content of vegetation in the UK, 2021-2023, measured as part of UK Fire Danger Rating System. NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre https://doi.org/10.5285/9334118f-3389-4a13-89a1-d75ec6fcc43a
Spatial representation type
textTable Text, table
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Character set
utf8 UTF8
Topic category
  • Biota
Begin date
2021-02-24
End date
2023-06-05
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Unique resource identifier
WGS 84
Distribution format
  • Comma-separated values (CSV) ()

Distributor
  NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
OnLine resource
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dataset Dataset
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Conformance result

Date (Publication)
2010-12-08
Statement
Data were collected by sampling vegetation. The sampler established 20 m transects at sample sites and collected samples between 11:00 and 17:00 local time. For heather, gorse and bracken, stems and either canopy (heather, gorse) or leaves (bracken) were sampled separately, and for all vegetation both live and dead samples were taken. Live moss samples were collected by pinching the top two cm of moss from the soil surface, and litter samples were collected by pinching the top two cm of dead leaf litter from soil surface, at ca. 10 points along the transect. These two fuel types were sampled separately, and if both occurred together the constituents were separated. For the organic layer, defined as the organic material beneath the surface litter and above the mineral soil, the top 5 cm of soil was sampled at four points along the transect. In forested sites, twigs (<5 mm diameter) were collected from fallen branches at ca. 10 points along the transect. Only those which were not in contact with the floor were collected. The same fuel constituents sampled along the transects were combined within aluminium screw-fit tins that were sealed with masking tape. Gravimetric fuel moisture content (FMC) was calculated by weighing the collected samples, drying them for 48 h at 80 °C and then reweighing the dried samples. The FMC is calculated as: (W - D)/(D - T) * 100 where W = wet weight (g), D = dry weight (g) and T = the weight of the sample tin (g).
File identifier
9334118f-3389-4a13-89a1-d75ec6fcc43a XML
Metadata language
EnglishEnglish
Character set
ISO/IEC 8859-1 (also known as Latin 1) 8859 Part 1
Hierarchy level
dataset Dataset
Hierarchy level name
dataset
Date stamp
2025-11-18T09:29:46
Metadata standard name
UK GEMINI
Metadata standard version
2.3
Point of contact
  NERC EDS Environmental Information Data Centre
Lancaster Environment Centre, Library Avenue, Bailrigg , Lancaster , LA1 4AP , UK
https://eidc.ac.uk/
 
 

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Keywords

GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0
Environmental Monitoring Facilities

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