Measurement of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon using satellite remote sensing
Thesis/Dissertation
·
OSTI ID:5622123
Understanding of the role of the biota in the global carbon cycle is limited by an absence of accurate measurements of deforestation rates in the tropics. This study measures the rate and extent of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon, the largest extant tropical forest biome in the world. The study uses remote sensing measurements of deforestation rates, the area of secondary vegetation, and tabular data to document deforestation. The analysis concludes: (1) AVHRR will greatly overestimate deforestation and be highly variable; the use of a brightness temperature threshold is highly sensitive and unreliable. The upward bias of AVHRR is a function of the density of deforestation. (2) Accurate measurement of deforestation requires Landsat TM data, and can be accomplished using low cost visual interpretation of photographic products at 1:250,000 scales. (3) Secondary growth in the Brazilian Amazon represents a large fraction of the total deforested area, and the abandonment of agricultural land is an important land cover transition. Abandonment rates were 70--83% of clearing rates from primary forests. At any one point in time, approximately 30% of the deforested area is in some stage of abandonment, and quite likely nearly all deforested land becomes abandoned after approximately 5 years. (4) Previous estimates of the total area deforested in the Amazon, as well as deforestation rates, have been too high by as much as 4-fold. A complete assessment of the entire Legal Amazon using over 200 Landsat images measures 251 [times] 10[sup 3] km[sup 2] deforestation as of 1988, or approximately 6% of the closed forests of the region. The average annual rate of deforestation between 1978 and 1988 was 18 [times] 10[sup 3] km[sup 2] yr[sup [minus]1]. These findings suggest the estimates of carbon emissions from the Amazon for the late 1980s have been too high, since the area of regrowth is large and rates of deforestation are lower than previously believed.
- Research Organization:
- New Hampshire Univ., Durham, NH (United States)
- OSTI ID:
- 5622123
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Colonization, road development and deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon Basin of Rondonia
Biodiversity losses and carbon emissions in Amazon region - the situation of contemporary period and strategies for reduce these environmental changes
Test of the use of LANDSAT imagery to detect changes in the area of forests in the tropics
Technical Report
·
Wed Feb 28 23:00:00 EST 1990
·
OSTI ID:6946370
Biodiversity losses and carbon emissions in Amazon region - the situation of contemporary period and strategies for reduce these environmental changes
Conference
·
Tue Dec 30 23:00:00 EST 1997
·
OSTI ID:577381
Test of the use of LANDSAT imagery to detect changes in the area of forests in the tropics
Technical Report
·
Thu Sep 01 00:00:00 EDT 1983
·
OSTI ID:5552625