A land cover map of South America |
| |
| Authors: | Hugh D Eva Alan S Belward Evaristo E De Miranda† Carlos M Di Bella‡ Valéry Gond§ Otto Huber¶ Simon Jones&#; Matteo Sgrenzaroli Steffen Fritz |
| |
| Institution: | Institute for Environment and Sustainability (IES), TP 440, Joint Research Centre of the European Commission, Ispra I-21020, Italy,;Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária (EMBRAPA-CNPM), Av. Dr Julio Soares de Arruda, 803, CEP 13088-300, Campinas/SP, Brazil,;Instituto de Clima y Agua (INTA), Los Reseros y Las Cabañas S/N (1712), Castelar, Buenos Aires, Argentina,;CIRAD/UMR –ECOFOG, Route de Montabo, BP 165, 97323, Cayenne, French Guyana,;CoroLab Humboldt, IVIC, Caracas, Venezuela,;School of Mathematical and Geospatial Sciences, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia |
| |
| Abstract: | A digital land cover map of South America has been produced using remotely sensed satellite data acquired between 1995 and the year 2000. The mapping scale is defined by the 1 km spatial resolution of the map grid‐cell. In order to realize the product, different sources of satellite data were used, each source providing either a particular parameter of land cover characteristic required by the legend, or mapping a particular land cover class. The map legend is designed both to fit requirements for regional climate modelling and for studies on land cover change. The legend is also compatible with a wider, global, land cover mapping exercise, which seeks to characterize the world's land surface for the year 2000. As a first step, the humid forest domain has been validated using a sample of high‐resolution satellite images. The map demonstrates both the major incursions of agriculture into the remaining forest domains and the extensive areas of agriculture, which now dominate South America's grasslands. |
| |
| Keywords: | Amazonia ecosystems land cover mapping South America vegetation classes |
|
|
