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Pacific Southwest Research Station
800 Buchanan Street
West Annex Building
Albany, CA 94710-0011

(510) 559-6300

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Lear 35 remote sensing aircraft in the smoke pall at Alta Floresta, Mato Grosso



Studies

Fire Science: US-Brazil International Cooperation
Deforestation and Forest Harvesting
 
 

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.

 

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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 Last Modified: 2004-09-16