Multitemporal TM/Landsat images for monitoring timber exploitation areas in the Brazilian Amazonia

Uses multitemporal TM/Landsat data sets to identify and estimate the extent of timber exploitation activities in areas of upland tropical rainforest in the Amazon region. The analysis of information from this database (26 images × 11 years) consisting of polygons mapped annually and properly georeferenced, allows the estimation of the annual rate of selective logging, and also of the conversion of selectively logged areas into clear-cut areas or secondary succession, due to the abandonment of the area. Using linear spectral mixture techniques, an example of the spectral-textural characteristics transformation of the TM images is presented for the test-site Tapajo´s National Forest, Para´ State. In this section of the tropical forests, this practice of timber exploitation has been accomplished with legal support, through a governmental forest management plan. The spatial distribution of areas subject to selective logging provides subsidies to the environmental agencies responsible for the control and enforcement of the policies regarding the forest resources in Brazilian Amazon