Mapping Land Cover Change in the Brazilian Cerrado
emotely-sensed data allows us to monitor natural and anthropogenic environmental changes across the globe. Check out these amazing timelapse series created using 30 m resolution Landsat satellite data.
The Brazilian Cerrado is a biodiversity hotspot comprised of dry forests, woodland savannas, and grasslands. It is also Brazil's agricultural heartland where the average farm is bigger than 200 ha (2 km2). Because the farms are so big, we can use moderate resolution data to map agricultural land cover. I use remote sensing data, specifically MODIS vegetation index data, to parse this dynamic landscape.
In the animation on the left, the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Goias, Maranhao, Bahia, Piaui and Toncantins are highlighted. Large-scale single-cropped agriculture (planting one commercial crop during the wet season) is mapped in black, while double-cropped agriculture (planting two commercial crops during the wet season) is mapped in pink, sugarcropped fields are mapped in green, and irrigated agriculture is mapped in blue. Between 2001 and 2016, we see both an expansion of total agricultural area, and an intensification of that agriculture, as single-cropped land is converted to double-cropped land.
The Brazilian Cerrado is a biodiversity hotspot comprised of dry forests, woodland savannas, and grasslands. It is also Brazil's agricultural heartland where the average farm is bigger than 200 ha (2 km2). Because the farms are so big, we can use moderate resolution data to map agricultural land cover. I use remote sensing data, specifically MODIS vegetation index data, to parse this dynamic landscape.
In the animation on the left, the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Goias, Maranhao, Bahia, Piaui and Toncantins are highlighted. Large-scale single-cropped agriculture (planting one commercial crop during the wet season) is mapped in black, while double-cropped agriculture (planting two commercial crops during the wet season) is mapped in pink, sugarcropped fields are mapped in green, and irrigated agriculture is mapped in blue. Between 2001 and 2016, we see both an expansion of total agricultural area, and an intensification of that agriculture, as single-cropped land is converted to double-cropped land.