Deforestation of the Brazillian Amazon
The Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon region
Throughout the years, the Amazon region of Brazil has become the focus of many controversial issues involving deforestation. One of the main concerns within this region is the cutting and distribution of trees, otherwise, known as logging. The forest industry surrounding the area has relied on sufficient lumber volume and growth in healthy forests. The conditions and outcome of logged forests in the Brazilian Amazon is associated with widespread high-resolution satellites where studies have demonstrated that forest damage was caused by logging operations. Many remote sensing techniques are being used to perceive these harmful effects. These forests are at risk to high levels of canopy damage, making them sensitive to drought and fire. These operations create a high chance of deforestation before sufficient recovery can occur for healthy trees to re-grow.
To monitor these changes to the forest, scientist use satellite observations and satellite-based forest canopy gap fraction maps. The measurements are timed over a period of years, mainly in the span of 4-6 years. Within these years, studies are conducted to measure the level of damage distributed across the forest and the chance of deforestation. There are roughly 120 images per year in the span of four years totaling 480 images taken by the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper-Plus satellite to monitor over four states- Acre, Para, Rondonia, and Mato Grosso, which are the main concerned areas of deforestation [Asner, and Broadbent, 2006]. This study will aim to alert logging in the Brazilian Amazon is becoming a detrimental factor in deforestation in areas that wproduce agricultural and urban uses if not operated timely in accordance to healthy re-growth of trees.
After the scientists were aware of the technicalities, they used Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper- Plus satellite to figure out what image processing would be effective in the dataset. One dataset they
Throughout the years, the Amazon region of Brazil has become the focus of many controversial issues involving deforestation. One of the main concerns within this region is the cutting and distribution of trees, otherwise, known as logging. The forest industry surrounding the area has relied on sufficient lumber volume and growth in healthy forests. The conditions and outcome of logged forests in the Brazilian Amazon is associated with widespread high-resolution satellites where studies have demonstrated that forest damage was caused by logging operations. Many remote sensing techniques are being used to perceive these harmful effects. These forests are at risk to high levels of canopy damage, making them sensitive to drought and fire. These operations create a high chance of deforestation before sufficient recovery can occur for healthy trees to re-grow.
To monitor these changes to the forest, scientist use satellite observations and satellite-based forest canopy gap fraction maps. The measurements are timed over a period of years, mainly in the span of 4-6 years. Within these years, studies are conducted to measure the level of damage distributed across the forest and the chance of deforestation. There are roughly 120 images per year in the span of four years totaling 480 images taken by the Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper-Plus satellite to monitor over four states- Acre, Para, Rondonia, and Mato Grosso, which are the main concerned areas of deforestation [Asner, and Broadbent, 2006]. This study will aim to alert logging in the Brazilian Amazon is becoming a detrimental factor in deforestation in areas that wproduce agricultural and urban uses if not operated timely in accordance to healthy re-growth of trees.
After the scientists were aware of the technicalities, they used Landsat 7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper- Plus satellite to figure out what image processing would be effective in the dataset. One dataset they
Bibliography: Asner, G. P., Broadbent, E. N., Oliveira, P. J. C., Keller, M., Knapp, D. E., & Silva, J. N. M. (2006). Condition and fate of logged forests in the Brazilian Amazon. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 103(34), 12947–50. doi:10.1073/pnas.0604093103.