Regional Initiatives - LBA
Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA)
The Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA) is an international research initiative led by Brazil. LBA is designed to create the new knowledge needed to understand the climatological, ecological, biogeochemical, and hydrological functioning of Amazonia, the impact of land-use change on these functions, and the interactions between Amazonia and the Earth system. LBA is centered on two general key questions that are addressed through multi-disciplinary research, integrating studies in the physical, chemical, biological, and human sciences:
- How does Amazonia currently function as a regional entity?
- How will changes in land use and climate affect the biological, chemical, and physical functions of Amazonia, including the sustainability of development in the region and the influence of Amazonia on global climate?
The LBA Land-Cover and Land-Use change studies focus on the documentation of past and current land-cover and land-use changes throughout Amazonia and development of a capability to predict the location and magnitude of future land-cover and land-use changes in the region. Land-cover and land-use are key to documenting, understanding, and predicting ecosystem responses in Amazonia. LBA cannot succeed without adequate land cover data, nor can it succeed without an adequate understanding of the dynamics of change in land-cover and land-use. The specific LCLUC science questions are:
- What are the rates and mechanisms of forest conversion to agricultural land-uses, and what is the relative importance of these land-uses?
- At what rate are converted lands abandoned to secondary forests; what is the fate of these converted lands, and what are the overall dynamic patterns of land conversion and abandonment?
- What is the area of forest that is affected by selective logging each year? How does the intensity of selective logging influence forest ecosystem function, thus altering forest regrowth and flammability?
- What are plausible scenarios for future land-cover change in Amazonia?
For more information on LBA activities please contact Michael Keller (LBA Project Scientist US Forest Service) or check the LBA website: http://www-eosdis.ornl.gov/lba_cptec or the LBA-ECO Project Office website at http://lba-ecology.gsfc.nasa.gov/lbaeco.
Example LBA Project: Integrating Coarse and Fine Resolution Satellite Data to Monitor Land Cover Change throughout Amazonia
Ruth DeFries (Principal Investigator), University of Maryland; Yosio Shimabukuro, Brazilian National Space Research Institute INPE
The LBA LC-22 team is working to integrate coarse and fine resolution satellite data to monitor land-cover change in the Brazilian Amazon. The team has developed and validated several methods for near-real time monitoring of deforestation using 250 m resolution MODIS data. Building on the research findings, INPE launched the DETER deforestation detection project in May 2004 (www.obt.inpe.br/deter). The locations of new clearings larger than 25 hectares are posted to the DETER web GIS system approximately every two weeks. DETER data and annual Landsat-based deforestation mapping products (PRODES project, www.obt.inpe.br/prodes) are available for download at no cost. The second aspect of the project has been to work with time series of MODIS data to characterize the nature of land use conversions. Recent expansion of cropland agriculture into the southern Amazon is altering the timing, size, and fate of deforested areas. Phenological information from biweekly MODIS composites enables agricultural areas to be separated from other land cover types. Frequent MODIS observations help to minimize cloud contamination, especially since the growing season coincides with persistent cloud cover over the Amazon. Results from this aspect of the project include MODIS-based land cover classifications, characterization of the dynamics of cropland agriculture expansion versus deforestation for cattle ranching, and predictive modeling of the potential for the additional agricultural expansion. Finally, the team has worked with the MODIS Vegetation Continuous Fields (VCF)tree-cover product to generate training and validation data for various vegetation structures across the gradient from Amazon forest to cerrado savanna-woodland physiognomies. These training data are an integral part of calibration and validation for the VCF product.
