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Search indexed NASA NTRS and DOE OSTI research on propulsion, heat transfer, battery materials and energy systems. Follow report and document links to the original sources.

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At least 55 records · Page 3

Family Life Cycle and Deforestation in Amazonia: Combining Remotely Sensed Information with Primary Data

This paper examines the relationships between the socio-demographic characteristics of small settlers in the Brazilian Amazon and the life cycle hypothesis in the process of deforestation. The analysis was conducted combining remote sensing and geographic data with primary data of 153 small settlers along the TransAmazon Highway. Regression analyses and spatial autocorrelation tests were conducted. The results from the empirical model indicate that socio-demographic characteristics of households as well as institutional and market factors, affect the land use decision. Although remotely sensed information is not very popular among Brazilian social scientists, these results confirm that they can be very useful for this kind of study. Furthermore, the research presented by this paper strongly indicates that family and socio-demographic data, as well as market data, may result in misspecification problems. The same applies to models that do not incorporate spatial analysis.

Caldas, M.↗

Stratifying Tropical Fires by Land Cover: Insights into Amazonian Fires, Aerosol Loading, and Regional Deforestation

This study analyzes changes in the number of fires detected on forest, grass, and transition lands during the 2002-2009 biomass burning seasons using fire detection data and co-located land cover classifications from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS). We find that the total number of detected fires correlates well with MODIS mean aerosol optical depth (AOD) from year to year, in accord with other studies. However, we also show that the ratio of forest to savanna fires varies substantially from year to year. Forest fires have trended downward, on average, since the beginning of 2006 despite a modest increase in 2007. Our study suggests that high particulate matter loading detected in 2007 was likely due to a large number of savanna/agricultural fires that year. Finally, we illustrate that the correlation between annual Brazilian deforestation estimates and MODIS fires is considerably higher when fires are stratified by MODIS-derived land cover classifications.

TenHoeve, J. E.↗

Deforestation planning for cattle grazing in Amazon Basin using LANDSAT data

The author has identified the following significant results. This research did not show the total potential of the LANDSAT system, but tried to open up new research aspects for the utilization of LANDSAT data in natural resource control. Results obtained through this research showed that LANDSAT data can be used to develop monitoring programs in the tropical forest areas of Brazil.

Dejesusparada, N.↗

Tropical deforestation and species endangerment - The role of remote sensing

Initial results of a pilot study to link remotely sensed information on tropical forest loss to field-based information on species endangerment are presented. LANDSAT MSS imagery was used to estimate net forest removal, regrowth, and forest edges in Mabira Forest in Uganda during 15-year period. Although four distinct types of closed tropical forest based on structure of dominance could be recognized on the ground, the types could not be distinguished according to differences in spectral reflectance in the MSS bands; yet the closed tropical forest could be readily distinguished from nonforest vegetation types. It is concluded that the utilization of MSS for this purpose is likely to be most successful when combined with larger-scale resolution imagery, such as TM, SPOT, and aerial photography, as well as existing vegetation maps. Of significant promise, however, is the ability to differentiate disturbance regimes, regrowth, and exterior and interior edges of tropical closed forest by the combined use of MSS imagery and ground data.

Westman, Walter E.↗

Remote sensing of biomass burning associated with deforestation

A method based on remote sensing of one emitted product - particulates is developed for the global assessment of trace gases and particulates emission from tropical biomass burning. According to the method, the detected mass of emitted particulates is converted into a mass of emitted trace gases using published relations between the emitted particulates and trace gases for the flaming and smoldering phases. Through an analysis of the 1987 burning season in Brazil during the three months of the dry season, it is shown that there are up to 8000 fires a day each contributing 4500 tons of CO(2), 750 tons of CO, and 26 tons of CH(4) to the atmosphere. A comparison to the estimates of global emissions is also presented.

Kaufman, Yoram J.↗

Deforestation and Biogenic Trace Emissions from Brazilian Cerrado

The overall goal of NASA's SCAR (Smoke, Cloud and Radiation) Program is to obtain physical and chemical properties of the smoke produced by biomass burning and the effects of the smoke on the earth's radiation balance and climate. It is a joint project with the Brazilian government and their organizations, including INPE (Instituto Nacional Pesquisas Espaciais) who actively participate in all activities. Appropriate estimates of the biomass buming in the tropics is therefore essential to determine its effect on the atmosphere and on climate. The SCAR series of experiments is designed with that purpose. The present study of evaluating the burnt-out areas is to augment the data collected to date to help evaluate the effect of biomass burning.

Sinha, Ravi↗