Regional heat capacity changes on oil palm plantation development in 1994-2010 based on Landsat-5 TM satellite data

Abstract

Regional heat capacity change is calculated from the ratio between the addition or subtraction of heat (ΔQ) with the increase or decrease in temperature (ΔT) region. The purpose of this study is to calculate the regional heat capacity change due to the changes of land cover composition with forest, shrubs, oil palm plantation and bare soil using Landsat-5 TM satellite data on 1994, 2000 and 2010. The total area used in this study is 12971 ha. In 1994-2000, 4 % of forest area and 2% shrubs were increased, followed by addition biomass forest 4.01 tons/ha and 2.83 tons/ha for shrubs. The increased of forest area and biomass (tons/ha) caused by forest and shrubs growth processing towards a climax that added the canopy volume. So that, the regional heat capacity in 1994 amounted 19384 MJ °C−1 increased to 19929 MJ°C−1 in 2000. Data observation for 2000-2010 showed that forest area decreased by 66% due to forest’s clearing into oil palm plantations (47%), shrubs (8%) and bare soil (11%). However, plant’s biomass continues to increased, i.e. 1.48 ton/ha for the forest, 2.73 tons/ha for shrubs and 4.63 tons/ha for bare soil. Before 2000, there was no land cover by oil palm plantations, so the increasing rate from this land was the biggest than the three other lands, amounting to 122.29 tons/ha. Decreasing in the percentage of forest area does not cause a decrease in the heat capacity of the region. Intensive maintenance on oil palm plantation such as water management, fertilizer, and planting space made it biomass productivity, and ability to save the heat is greater than the forest. As a result, in 2010 regional heat capacity increased to 22508 MJ °C−1.