João Roberto dos Santos

• National Institute for Space Research

This work presents the methodological sequence for identifying and mapping the deforested areas, in Amazonia, using digital image processing of Landsat TM data. The spectral linear mixing model was used to generate vegetation, soil, and shade fraction images derived from the original bands of TM acquired in 1997 and 1998. An example of this approac...

Polarimetric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images are essential to understand forest structure and plan forest inventories with the purpose of natural resource management and environmental conservation efforts. We developed a method for estimating above-ground biomass (AGB) from power and phase-radar attributes in L-band images. The model was base...

O objetivo principal do trabalho é analisar algumas técnicas de processamento digital de imagens para estudar a dinâmica de uso e cobertura da terra na porção SW da Amazônia (região do Peixoto, Estado do Acre). A técnica Análise de Vetor de Mudança (AVM) foi utilizada para caracterizar e mapear as transformações de uso e cobertura da terra, bem com...

We investigated the potential of hyperspectral remote sensing to estimate aboveground biomass (AGB) over the Brazilian savannas (Cerrado), the second-largest source of carbon emissions in Brazil. For this purpose, a Hyperion/Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) image was collected in the dry season at the Ecological Station of Águas Emendadas (ESAE). In order...

We discriminated different successional forest stages, forest degradation, and land use classes in the Tapajós National Forest (TNF), located in the Central Brazilian Amazon. We used full polarimetric images from ALOS/PALSAR-2 that have not yet been tested for land use and land cover (LULC) classification, neither for forest degradation classificat...

Knowledge of the spatial patterns of successional stages (i.e., primary and secondary forest) in tropical forests allows to monitor forest preservation, mortality and regeneration in relation to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. Different successional stages have also different capabilities of re-establishing carbon stocks. Therefore, a succe...

This study aims to analyze the capability of the target decomposition techniques and the polarimetric ratios applied to the ALOS/PALSAR-2 satellite polarimetric images to discriminate the land use and land cover classes in the Tapajós National Forest region, Pará State. Three full polarimetric ALOS/PALSAR-2, level 1 single look complex scenes were...

Modelos computacionais baseados no paradigma de autômatos celulares foram concebidos recentemente para a simulação de mudanças de uso e cobertura da terra, a exemplo de expansão agrícola, processos de desmatamento, crescimento urbano, entre outros. O objetivo do presente trabalho foi o de aplicar e avaliar um modelo de autômatos celulares para simu...

The objective of this work was to implement a spatial dynamics model to simulate land use and cover change (LUCC) in the period between 1986, 2002 and 2008 and to generate future scenarios until 2030 in an area characterized by multiple, competitive and complex LUCC processes. The model structure follows the majority of the existing LUCC models, be...

O objetivo do presente trabalho é verificar o potencial de atributos polarimétricos extraídos de imagens-radar PALSAR/ALOS conjugados ao atributo de coerência interferométrica dos dados TanDEM-X/TerraSAR-X para o mapeamento de uso e cobertura da terra na Amazônia brasileira. Na análise dessas imagens-radar uma série de atributos polarimétricos foi...

Significance Identifying and explaining regional differences in tropical forest dynamics, structure, diversity, and composition are critical for anticipating region-specific responses to global environmental change. Floristic classifications are of fundamental importance for these efforts. Here we provide a global tropical forest classification tha...

We analysed the flora of 46 forest inventory plots (25 m x 100 m) in old growth forests from the Amazonian region to identify the role of environmental (topographic) and spatial variables (obtained using PCNM, Principal Coordinates of Neighbourhood Matrix analysis) for common and rare species. For the analyses, we used multiple partial regression t...

Selected topographic and spatial variables for partial multiple regression and partial redundancy according to forward selection. (DOCX)

The seasonal characterization and discrimination of savannahs in Brazil are still challenging due to the high spatial variability of the vegetation cover and the spectral similarity between some physiognomies. As a preparatory study for future hyperspectral missions that will operate with large swath width and better signal-to-noise ratio than the...

Changes in tropical-forest structure and aboveground biomass (AGB) contribute directly to atmospheric changes in CO 2 , which, in turn, bear on global climate. This paper demonstrates the capability of radar-interferometric phase-height time series at X-band (wavelength = 3 cm) to monitor changes in vertical structure and AGB, with sub-hectare and...

Mapping and monitoring of forest carbon stocks across large areas in the tropics will necessarily rely on remote sensing approaches, which in turn depend on field estimates of biomass for calibration and validation purposes. Here, we used field plot data collected in a tropical moist forest in the central Amazon to gain a better understanding of th...

Detailed knowledge of vegetation structure is required for accurate modelling of terrestrial ecosystems, but direct measurements of the three dimensional distribution of canopy elements, for instance from LiDAR, are not widely available. We investigate the potential for modelling vegetation roughness, a key parameter for climatological models, from...

We evaluated the sensitivity of the full polarimetric Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR), onboard the Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS), to forest degradation caused by fires in northern Amazon, Brazil. We searched for changes in PALSAR signal and tri-dimensional polarimetric responses for different classes of fire di...

A análise de mudanças na composição de espécies e estrutura da vegetação em cronosseqüências aprimora o conhecimento sobre os padrões de regeneração após o abandono das terras na Amazônia. Nosso objetivo foi realizar análise florístico-estrutural em florestas maduras (com / sem exploração madeireira) e em sucessões secundárias (inicial, intermediár...

Surveying primary tropical forest over large regions is challenging. Indirect methods of relating terrain information or other external spatial datasets to forest biophysical parameters can provide forest structural maps at large scales but the inherent uncertainties need to be evaluated fully. The goal of the present study was to evaluate relief c...

Graphics of Morans’ Index. (DOCX)

Data to generate the regression models. (XLSX)

Data to validate the models. (XLSX)

This work aims to verify the applicability of models obtained using interferometric synthetic aperture radar (SAR) data for estimation of biophysical Eucalyptus saligna parameters [diameter of breast height (DBH), total height and volume], as a method of continuous forest inventory. In order to obtain different digital elevation models, and the int...

Foram apresentadas algumas definições acerca de serviço ecossistêmico, valoração ambiental e a utilização de geotecnologias, evidenciando a crescente integração entre ciências econômicas e geociências. O aprofundamento nas questões que envolvem as características dos dados geográficos é imprescindível para a adequada aplicação de geotecnologias em...

The aim of this study is to understand the relationship between radar backscattering (σ°, β° and γ) of a multi-polarized Radarsat-2 C-band image with the structural attributes of regenerating mangrove vegetation located at the mouth of the Amazon River. CBH (circumference at breast height), height and species data were collected to characterize veg...

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher’s alpha and an approx...

This chapter approaches the economic valuation of environmental impacts related to soil erosion and silting-up of water streams, designed to allow the transfer of recovery costs to a policy of payment for ecosystem services. The aim of this study is to evaluate the contribution of silting-up mitigation to funding the environmental recovery of ripar...

The pressure of human occupation changes can be observed by non-sustainable land use forms in the brazilian semi-arid region. The multi-temporal analysis of changes from the Caatinga Land Cover, provides sufficient information about the dynamics of this typical land use. Within this frame, the Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was applied in combi...

Change detection is the process of identifying differences in the state of an object by observing it at different times. There are many change detection techniques and the one used in this work, called Radiometric Rotation Controlled by No-change Axis (RCNA), was developed from Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The advantage of RCNA over PCA is...

The high species richness of tropical forests has long been recognized, yet there remains substantial uncertainty regarding the actual number of tropical tree species. Using a pantropical tree inventory database from closed canopy forests, consisting of 657,630 trees belonging to 11,371 species, we use a fitted value of Fisher's alpha and an approx...

Recent studies in Amazonian tropical evergreen forests using the Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer (MISR) and the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) have highlighted the importance of considering the view-illumination geometry in satellite data analysis. However, contrary to the observed for evergreen forests, bidirectional e...

Radiometric changes observed in multi-temporal optical satellite images have an important role in efforts to characterize selective-logging areas. The aim of this study was to analyze the multi-temporal behavior of spectral-mixture responses in satellite images in simulated selective-logging areas in the Amazon forest, considering red/near-infrared...

This letter reports the sensitivity of X-band interferometric synthetic aperture radar (InSAR) data from the first dual-spacecraft radar interferometer, TanDEM-X, to variations in tropical-forest aboveground biomass (AGB). It also reports the first tropical-forest AGB estimates from TanDEM-X data. Tropical forests account for about 50% of the world...

Secondary forests cover large areas and are strong carbon sinks in tropical regions. They are important for ecosystem functioning, biodiversity conservation, watershed protection, and recovery of soil fertility. In this study, we used the Surface Reflectance Climate Data Record (CDR) product from 16 Thematic Mapper (TM)/Landsat-5 images (1984-2010)...

Change detection is the process of identifying differences in the state of an object by observing it at different times. There are many change detection techniques and the one used in this work, called Radiometric Rotation Controlled by No-change Axis (RCNA), was developed from Principal Components Analysis (PCA). The advantage of RCNA over PCA is...

The response of tropical forests to climate change has received great attention by the scientific community due to the important role that this vegetation plays in the global carbon, water and energy cycle. For instance, the Amazonian rainforests account for about 15% of global photosynthesis and host about a quarter of the world's terrestrial spec...

We analysed spectral and textural attributes from the Advanced Land Imager (ALI)/EO-1 for land-cover mapping and inspected their correlation with biophysical parameters of primary and secondary forests from Eastern Amazon. An artificial neural network (ANN) technique selected the most relevant spectral/textural attributes, which were combined for c...

RESUMO O objetivo do presente artigo é analisar a dinâmica de uso e cobertura da terra em um trecho da zona de contato floresta e savana no Estado de Roraima, por meio de procedimento classificatório multi-sensor, envolvendo imagens TM/Landsat-5, (ano 2010), e do OLI/Landsat-8 (2014). As imagens foram calibradas e classificadas fazendo uso da abord...

Secondary successions are important typologies for biodiversity maintenance, hydrological regimen, and carbon sequestration. The use of GLCM textural metrics can collaborate to discriminate these classes due to the extraction of the spatial variability of the forest canopy. Hence, it is also necessary a technique such as artificial neural networks...

Secondary succession is an important process in the Amazonian region with implications for the global carbon cycle and for the sustainable regional agricultural and pasture activities. In order to better discriminate the secondary succession and to characterize and estimate the aboveground biomass (AGB), backscatter and interferometric SAR data gen...

Este artigo apresenta uma abordagem que combina ferramentas de Sistemas de Informações Geográficas (SIG) e de Sensoriamento Remoto (SR) para o mapeamento integrado da paisagem, dentro de diretrizes de um zoneamento hierárquico e de princípios da Ecologia da Paisagem. Variáveis físicas, ecológicas e sociais são integradas, empregando-se análise mult...

In order tofacilitate the incorporation of RADARSAT data into on-going programs for monitoring land use and land cover changes in the Brazilian portion of the Amazon basin, a rapid assessment of the visibility and detectability of features of interest was carried out and on the dynamics of change of thesefeatures with time. RADARSAT images were acq...

Remote sensing-radar was used to analyze forest mapping and biomass estimates on Brazilian terribly Two examples of SAR attributes for the modeling of the aboveground biomass of forest stands are presented: (1) full-polarimetric attributes of PALSAR/AIDS (Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar/Advanced Land Observing Satellite) fir model...

The objective of this work is to generate a predictive model for biomass estimation in a forested area of central Amazonia based on the integration of incoherent target scattering decomposition polarimetric attributes extracted from Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data and geomorphometric variables derived from Shuttle Ra...

Remote sensing is a key tool for studying the tropical Amazonian forests, which have a substantial role on the global climate system and on the carbon and water cycles. In this article, we overview recent advances in remote sensing for estimating tropical forest structure and biomass, for analyzing phenological patterns across tropical landscapes,...

The objective of this study is process the satellite image for enhance elements characteristically of the selective logging. The area is located in south of Labrea, Amazon state. The image used was Landsat TM of 2008, and the used technique is the radiometric rotation controlled. Good results were obtained with application of this technique for dis...

The use of radar imagery is an alternative source of information to support the monitoring of the Amazon region, since the optical images have imaging limitations in tropical areas due to the occurrence of clouds. Therefore, the goal of this study is to analyze the radar images in X-band multi-temporal polarized obtained by COSMO-SkyMed satellite (...

No part of this digital document may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted commercially in any form or by any means. The publisher has taken reasonable care in the preparation of this digital document, but makes no expressed or implied warranty of any kind and assumes no responsibility for any errors or omissions. No liability...

Foram apresentadas algumas definições acerca de serviço ecossistêmico, valoração ambiental e a utilização de geotecnologias, evidenciando a crescente integração entre ciências econômicas e geociências. O aprofundamento nas questões que envolvem as características dos dados geográficos é imprescindível para a adequada aplicação de geotecnologias em...

The problem dealt with in this work is the proposition of a spatial dynamic model coupled to an economic valuation of land use and cover change (LUCC). The aim is to generate future monetized LUCC scenarios related to sugarcane expansion. The study area is Arealva, a municipality located in the central-west of São Paulo estate, southeast of Brazil....

A utilização de imagens de radar é fonte alternativa de informações para subsidiar o monitoramento da região amazônica, visto que as imagens ópticas têm limitações de imageamento em zonas tropicais face a ocorrência de nuvens. Por conseguinte este trabalho teve como objetivo analisar a capacidade das imagens-radar de banda X multitemporais e polari...

Forest inventory survey are commonly used to obtain dendrometric data. but since 1993, optical active sensors, known as laserscanners, started to be specifically used in forest applications. The purpose of this paper is that the use of local maxima and region growing approaches will make it possible the estimative of dendrometric parameters with Li...

Este artigo considerou a hipótese de que o erro altimétrico do MDT obtido com LiDAR é compatível com a tolerância de 0,50 m em uma área florestal com relevo ondulado. O objetivo foi validar o MDT utilizando dados de campo como referência. A área de estudo é uma plantação de eucalipto para produção de celulose, localizada em Igaratá, São Paulo. O le...

This paper proposes the correlation of biomass with Fourier transforms of LiDAR and InSAR vegetation density measurements at vertical and horizontal Fourier spatial frequencies, as a means to estimate biomass. It further suggests that each Fourier frequency of leaf area density could be modeled as a harmonic oscillator, in which leaf area itself pr...

The assessment of changes in the landscape is the efficiency key in land management. The goal of this work is to parameterize and calibrate a model of land cover and land use change, and validate the predictive scenarios associated with sugarcane expansion in Arealva-SP, from 2005 to 2010. The initial and final maps were co-registered and, after ra...

The assessment of changes in the landscape is the efficiency key in land management. The goal of this work is to parameterize and calibrate a model of land cover and land use change, and validate the predictive scenarios associated with sugarcane expansion in Arealva-SP, from 2005 to 2010. The initial and final maps were co-registered and, after ra...

The assessment of changes in the landscape is the efficiency key in land management. The goal of this work is to parameterize and calibrate a model of land cover and land use change, and validate the predictive scenarios associated with sugarcane expansion in Arealva-SP, from 2005 to 2010. The initial and final maps were co-registered and, after ra...

In this study, we examine the degradation of tropical forests caused by the forest fires of anthropogenic origin that have frequently and intensely affected a large portion of the State of Roraima (northern Brazilian Amazon), such as the one that occurred in 1998 and extended over 12,000 km(2). In a region located in the so-called "Arc of Fire" in...

Fire is one of the main factors leading to forest degradation in the Amazon by changing species composition, biomass and structure. Considering the wide geographical extension of forest fires, remote sensing provides essential data for mapping, monitoring and even modeling fire. Despite radar sensors provide information on forest structure, no stud...

The objective of this work was to evaluate the relationship between the vegetation cover and the spatial variability of rainfall over the Brazilian Amazon. Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) data were used to estimate rainfall. In order to characterize the vegetation cover, the Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI) was obtained from the Moderate...

Because of the pointing capability of the Hyperion/Earth Observing-One (EO-1) to improve the revisit time of the scene, temporal series of narrowband vegetation indices (VIs) can be generated to study the phenology of the Amazonian tropical forests. In this study, 10 selected narrowband VIs calculated from Hyperion nadir and off-nadir data and from...

Land-use and land-cover change affects both ecological and socioeconomic processes, motivating the integration of environmental and socioeconomic data to help understand this change. In this study, we propose a method for the characterisation and spatial analysis of land use and cover change in the Upper Uruguay River Basin (Brazil) based on (i) th...

This study presents the capability of full polarimetric PALSAR ALOS attributes to im-prove the aboveground biomass (AGB) modeling of forests affected by fires in the Brazilian Ama-zon (State of Roraima). To perform this study, we carried out multivariate regression, using coher-ent and incoherent SAR attributes and AGB values estimated through biop...

Fires can significantly affect the structure, floristic composition and biomass content of tropical forests, which are not adapted to this disturbance. To assess the impact of understorey fires on above-ground biomass, this study was conducted in the northern Brazilian Amazon (Roraima state), where uncontrolled forest fires are recurrent. Fifty plo...

Neste estudo foi analisado a relação entre o produto dos fogos activos ATSR com variáveis ambientais, demográficas e infra-estruturas para o território Brasileiro. Foram comparados os métodos de regressão por mínimos quadrados (OLS) e regressão local ponderada (GWR). O método GWR permite a análise de regressão considerando as variáveis nãoestacioná...

A dependência do coeficiente de retroespalhamento (σ°) para diferentes alvos florestais não tem sido investigada quanto às variações topográficas, conforme se observa na literatura. Assim, o objetivo desse estudo é avaliar o efeito da topografia sobre o retroespalhamento derivado de áreas de floresta tropical em imagens PALSAR/ALOS (banda L). Para...

Este trabalho teve por objetivo detectar áreas onde ocorreram mudanças no uso e cobertura da terra a partir da técnica de rotação radiométrica controlada por eixo de não-mudança (RCEN) e imagens de sensoriamento remoto, em uma área da Floresta Atlântica, no Estado de São Paulo. Imagens do sensor TM/Landsat-5 de 2004 e SPOT-5 XP de 2006 foram utiliz...

The objective of this work was to analyze the potential use of SAR polarimetric images from the TerraSAR-X sensor system, at StripMap mode, to map land use and land cover in SW Brazilian Amazon. Amplitude images at polarizations AHH, AVV, A<HH.VV*>, derived from the co-variance matrix, as well as the entropy AEntropia, derived from the decompositio...

The objective of this study was to identify the effects of local geomorphometry on the abundance, richness and floristic composition of tree species in the central Brazilian Amazon. Forty‐six 0.25‐ha plots in different phyto‐ecologic sites were sampled, and their trees were inventoried. Geomorphometric data (elevation, slope, aspect, plan and profi...

REDD (Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation) constitutes a set of financial incentives designed to reduce CO2 emissions from forest degradation and deforestation. REDD success depends on measuring forest biomass as a proxy for CO2 stocks. We tested the efficacy of airborne X- and P-band interferometry as a remote-sensing metho...

The hypothesis of this paper is that the use of object-oriented classification in canopy height model allows the estimation of dendrometric parameters. The objective is to validate these estimates for three parameters: number of trees, crown area and total height, with maximum acceptable error of 5%. It had made some procedures related to multireso...