Using Remote Sensing Products for Environmental Analysis in South America

Land cover plays a major role in many biogeochemical models that represent processes and connections with terrestrial systems; hence, it is a key component for public decisions in ecosystems management. The advance of remote sensing technology, combined with the emergence of new operational products...

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Main Authors: Fabrício Brito Silva, Francielle da Silva Cardozo, Gabriel Pereira, Yosio Edemir Shimabukuro
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2011-09-01
Series:Remote Sensing
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/3/10/2110/
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author Fabrício Brito Silva
Francielle da Silva Cardozo
Gabriel Pereira
Yosio Edemir Shimabukuro
author_facet Fabrício Brito Silva
Francielle da Silva Cardozo
Gabriel Pereira
Yosio Edemir Shimabukuro
author_sort Fabrício Brito Silva
collection DOAJ
description Land cover plays a major role in many biogeochemical models that represent processes and connections with terrestrial systems; hence, it is a key component for public decisions in ecosystems management. The advance of remote sensing technology, combined with the emergence of new operational products, offers alternatives to improve the accuracy of environmental monitoring and analysis. This work uses the GLOBCOVER, the Vegetation Continuous Field (VCF), MODIS Fire Radiative Power (FRP) and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) remotely sensed databases to analyze the biomass burning distribution, the land use and land cover characteristics and the percent of tree cover in South America during the years 2000 to 2005. Initially, GLOBCOVER was assessed based on VCF product, and subsequently used for quantitative analysis of the spatial distribution of the South America fires with the fire radiative power (FRP). The results show that GLOBCOVER has a tendency to overestimate forest classes and to underestimate urban and mangroves areas. The fire quantification based on GLOBCOVER product shows that the highest incidence of fires can be observed in the arc of deforestation, located in the Amazon forest border, with vegetation cover composed mainly of broadleaved evergreen or semi-deciduous forest. A time series analysis of FRP database indicates that biomass burning occurs mainly in areas of broadleaved evergreen or semi-deciduous forest and in Brazilian Cerrado associated with grassland management, agricultural land clearing and with the deforestation of Amazon tropical rainforest. Also, variations in FRP intensity and spread can be attributed to rainfall anomalies, such as in 2004, when South America had a positive anomaly rainfall.
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spelling doaj.art-d0ea351ad84b4ed09471e4e953b2682e2022-12-22T04:13:48ZengMDPI AGRemote Sensing2072-42922011-09-013102110212710.3390/rs3102110Using Remote Sensing Products for Environmental Analysis in South AmericaFabrício Brito SilvaFrancielle da Silva CardozoGabriel PereiraYosio Edemir ShimabukuroLand cover plays a major role in many biogeochemical models that represent processes and connections with terrestrial systems; hence, it is a key component for public decisions in ecosystems management. The advance of remote sensing technology, combined with the emergence of new operational products, offers alternatives to improve the accuracy of environmental monitoring and analysis. This work uses the GLOBCOVER, the Vegetation Continuous Field (VCF), MODIS Fire Radiative Power (FRP) and the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) remotely sensed databases to analyze the biomass burning distribution, the land use and land cover characteristics and the percent of tree cover in South America during the years 2000 to 2005. Initially, GLOBCOVER was assessed based on VCF product, and subsequently used for quantitative analysis of the spatial distribution of the South America fires with the fire radiative power (FRP). The results show that GLOBCOVER has a tendency to overestimate forest classes and to underestimate urban and mangroves areas. The fire quantification based on GLOBCOVER product shows that the highest incidence of fires can be observed in the arc of deforestation, located in the Amazon forest border, with vegetation cover composed mainly of broadleaved evergreen or semi-deciduous forest. A time series analysis of FRP database indicates that biomass burning occurs mainly in areas of broadleaved evergreen or semi-deciduous forest and in Brazilian Cerrado associated with grassland management, agricultural land clearing and with the deforestation of Amazon tropical rainforest. Also, variations in FRP intensity and spread can be attributed to rainfall anomalies, such as in 2004, when South America had a positive anomaly rainfall.http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/3/10/2110/land useland coverGLOBCOVERvegetation continuous fieldfire radiative powerbiomass burning
spellingShingle Fabrício Brito Silva
Francielle da Silva Cardozo
Gabriel Pereira
Yosio Edemir Shimabukuro
Using Remote Sensing Products for Environmental Analysis in South America
Remote Sensing
land use
land cover
GLOBCOVER
vegetation continuous field
fire radiative power
biomass burning
title Using Remote Sensing Products for Environmental Analysis in South America
title_full Using Remote Sensing Products for Environmental Analysis in South America
title_fullStr Using Remote Sensing Products for Environmental Analysis in South America
title_full_unstemmed Using Remote Sensing Products for Environmental Analysis in South America
title_short Using Remote Sensing Products for Environmental Analysis in South America
title_sort using remote sensing products for environmental analysis in south america
topic land use
land cover
GLOBCOVER
vegetation continuous field
fire radiative power
biomass burning
url http://www.mdpi.com/2072-4292/3/10/2110/
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AT francielledasilvacardozo usingremotesensingproductsforenvironmentalanalysisinsouthamerica
AT gabrielpereira usingremotesensingproductsforenvironmentalanalysisinsouthamerica
AT yosioedemirshimabukuro usingremotesensingproductsforenvironmentalanalysisinsouthamerica