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Lear 35 remote sensing aircraft in the smoke
pall at Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso
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Fire Science: US-Brazil
International Cooperation
Deforestation and Forest Harvesting
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Remote sensing technology and expertise are being provided
to support IBAMA's program for environmental control of the Legal Amazon,
which includes intensified efforts to monitor and regulate harvesting
and clearing in the tropical moist forest.
U.S. and Brazilian remote sensing instrumentation and aircraft
have been deployed to support monitoring by IBAMA of clear-cutting and
selective harvesting along portions of the arc of deforestation in southern
and eastern Amazônia, to assess relative disturbance from low-impact and
traditional harvesting, and assist in monitoring individual forest management
concessions throughout the Amazon.
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Shown above is a short-wave infrared image of selective
harvesting in northern Mato Grosso. Visible are a loss of reflectance
from the degraded forest canopy, logging access roads, and log concentration
points. Many such instances of high-grade timber harvesting are
not permitted by law and precede deforestation. Note the logging
road ending at the river pictured at the lower center. This image
was collected by the Extended Dynamic Range Imaging Spectrometer
aboard a Lear 35 aircraft during August 1996. The image depicts
approximately 16 km from right to left. The ground was largely
obscured to the unaided eye by an extensive smoke pall. The Airborne
program is demonstrating technology for assessing on-going deforestation
and selective harvesting for management action by IBAMA.
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