Use of vegetation index to characterize the land use change in Coari - AM

Abstract

he municipality of Coari showed significant transformation in land use and occupation in recent decades, probably caused by the activity of prospecting and exploration of oil and natural gas, as well as due to its population increase. The vegetation indices enable characterization and quantification of biophysical parameters of the surface, once they reduce the size of the multispectral information provided by satellites. Therefore, the aim of this study was to study changes in land use and occupation in Coari-AM through the normalized difference (NDVI) vegetation index calculated from Landsat 5 TM in 1986 and 2009. Two images obtained by satellite Landsat 5 TM were used, composed of seven spectral bands and available by Space Research Institute site - INPE. Classification of land use and occupation was held from the NDVI obtained from Landsat 5 TM image and defined four classes: urban area or exposed soil, dense forest, clearings and water. The results enabled to view changes in the land use and occupation in Coari. There was an increase of exposed soil / urban area and decreasing the area of dense forest, showing the advancement of human activity on the region in the last two decades