Abstract
Deforestation in Rondônia state in the south-western part of the Brazilian Legal Amazon was analysed using Landsat Multi-Spectral Scanner (MSS), Thematic Mapper (TM), Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+), National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) and hydrological data. The Landsat sensor data coverage was supplemented with Pathfinder AVHRR Land (PAL) Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) datasets. The results from the Landsat-based analysis show that more than 30% of the natural vegetation in the study area was subject to deforestation between 1973 and 1999, a finding reinforced by analysis of the PAL NDVI data. In addition, it was established that trends in the PAL NDVI datasets were coincident with the pattern of deforestation. Apart from imagery analysis, time variations in the hydrological data between 1982 and 1988 were used to estimate the evapotranspiration. A decreasing trend was identified in the rate of evapotranspiration, suggesting that deforestation has a significant impact on the local hydrological cycle.
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