Frequently Asked Questions

Absolutely! We are delighted for you to use the data in any way you like.

Do take note of our general disclaimer before using any of the data. In terms of licensing, all data is provided under a Creative Commons license (CC BY 3.0 AU — you can find details here). Essentially, we only ask that you identify the source of the data in your communication. Where we use third-party data, those too were made available under a Creative Commons license and so the same applies there.

We would also very much like to hear your experience in using the website and data, so we can improve their usefulness as much as possible.

If you are using downloaded regional summary data or visual material from the website, we suggest you cite them as:

If you are downloading the gridded data, citation information for that specific dataset can be found in the metadata of each data file. For technical references to the methods used, see the Data Description.

These units result when multiplying the units of the primary gridded data with the area covered.

If the primary data were expressed as mass per unit area or water depth, the result will be total mass (e.g., tonnes Carbon) or water volume (ML) respectively. The result can be somewhat unusual in other cases. For example, if the units were a fraction of the area, the result will be in square kilometres; if they were events per unit area, the result will be an estimated total number — but not necessarily a round number.

The gridded fire occurrence data provide the number of fires per 2.5 km resolution grid cell. For the regional summaries, these data are transformed to 250 m resolution so they can be combined with land cover and region mapping. This is done by assigning each cell 1/100th of the number in the original data. As a result, the estimated number of fires is usually not a round number.

There were. The GA Sentinel Hotspots Mapping system on which fire occurrences are based came into operation in 2002, so there are no data for 2000 and 2001. As the system came into operation during 2002, data for that year should also be considered incomplete.

The area of Australia listed in the chart box represents the total area of all regions combined, and depends on the region boundary view you have chosen. For example, it may show the total area of all Ramsar Wetlands or National Parks, or in River Region view, the combined area of all mainland catchments. Even between region types that cover the entire continent, numbers can vary depending on whether certain water bodies are included.