A qualitative assessment of the heat pulse directed toward the ground during a fire. Burn severity relates to soil heating, large fuel and duff consumption, consumption of the litter and organic layer beneath trees and isolated shrubs, and mortality of buried plant parts.
Source: National Wildfire Coordinating Group. 2012. Glossary of Wildland Fire Terminology. PMS 205. Accessed on 9 September 2013. Available at http://www.nwcg.gov