This report will highlight the difference in vegetation change from 1991 to 2011 in the southern Amazonia of Brazil. The report will do this by outlining what NDVI is and how it is derived and then analysing the specific results of Brazil.
NDVI stands for Normalised Difference Vegetation Index and usually derived from satellite data, for landsat data this is usually thirty metres above the ground, to classify land cover change over a continental scale (DeFries and Townshend, 1994). When light hits a leaf part of the light spectrum is reflected back to the observer (Peñuelas and Filella, 1998:1) and the NDVI is calculated using two variables from this light spectrum, the amount of red and near infrared reflection (NIR), as NDVI= NIR-red/NIR+red …show more content…
It has a population of nearly 18000 people and covers a total area of 1154.82km². The main economic income of the municipality is “small and medium trade, dairy, refrigerator and dairy and beef cattle raising” with many small buisnesses operating in the retial trade and small industries such as roasting coffee beans and rice (Nova Brasilanda (2015). Using landsat data which was collected in 1991 and 2011, we are able to use NDVI to calculate the land cover change for the area. Land cover change can be split in to three categories, positive change- where vegetation has been gained; negative change where vegetation has been lost and no change. In the municipality of Nova Brasilânda d’Oeste, only 4.8079% of the land has positive change, this means that of the 1154.82km², only 56.5028km² has increased the amount of land cover in the area, as seen in figure 3. This positive change could also be down to the fact that between 1991 and 2001 the level of technology available in the world has increased and the level of accuracy between landsat 5 in 1991 and landsat 6 in 2011 could be able to pick up more reflection vegetation. This is an alarming statistic as this means that the area and the vegetation in the area has not be replenished or grown. As a contrast to this, 47.9% of the vegetation and land cover has been lost and the area has experienced negative change, as seen in figure 1, this means that nearly fifty per cent of the land cover has been lost. This is shown as Roberts et al (2002) report that the amount of area in Rondonia and South Amazonia that has been subject to deforestation has increase from 566000ha to 1.2 million ha. This means that although this is not specific to this municipality, deforestation in the area is the major negative land cover change. However, these two statistics also indicate that 47.3% has been
NDVI stands for Normalised Difference Vegetation Index and usually derived from satellite data, for landsat data this is usually thirty metres above the ground, to classify land cover change over a continental scale (DeFries and Townshend, 1994). When light hits a leaf part of the light spectrum is reflected back to the observer (Peñuelas and Filella, 1998:1) and the NDVI is calculated using two variables from this light spectrum, the amount of red and near infrared reflection (NIR), as NDVI= NIR-red/NIR+red …show more content…
It has a population of nearly 18000 people and covers a total area of 1154.82km². The main economic income of the municipality is “small and medium trade, dairy, refrigerator and dairy and beef cattle raising” with many small buisnesses operating in the retial trade and small industries such as roasting coffee beans and rice (Nova Brasilanda (2015). Using landsat data which was collected in 1991 and 2011, we are able to use NDVI to calculate the land cover change for the area. Land cover change can be split in to three categories, positive change- where vegetation has been gained; negative change where vegetation has been lost and no change. In the municipality of Nova Brasilânda d’Oeste, only 4.8079% of the land has positive change, this means that of the 1154.82km², only 56.5028km² has increased the amount of land cover in the area, as seen in figure 3. This positive change could also be down to the fact that between 1991 and 2001 the level of technology available in the world has increased and the level of accuracy between landsat 5 in 1991 and landsat 6 in 2011 could be able to pick up more reflection vegetation. This is an alarming statistic as this means that the area and the vegetation in the area has not be replenished or grown. As a contrast to this, 47.9% of the vegetation and land cover has been lost and the area has experienced negative change, as seen in figure 1, this means that nearly fifty per cent of the land cover has been lost. This is shown as Roberts et al (2002) report that the amount of area in Rondonia and South Amazonia that has been subject to deforestation has increase from 566000ha to 1.2 million ha. This means that although this is not specific to this municipality, deforestation in the area is the major negative land cover change. However, these two statistics also indicate that 47.3% has been