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> Deforestation in Brazil - 2009

Deforestation in Brazil - 2009

author: Nasa/Novapix

reference: t-sabrl-00105

Image Size 300 DPI: 32 * 25 cm

The state of Rondônia in western Brazil is one of the most deforested parts of the Amazon. In the past three decades, clearing and degradation of the state’s original 208,000 square kilometers of forest (about 51.4 million acres, an area slightly smaller than the state of Kansas) has been rapid: 4,200 square kilometers cleared by 1978; 30,000 by 1988; and 53,300 by 1998. By 2003, an estimated 67,764 square kilometers of rainforest—an area larger than the state of West Virginia—had been cleared. Here is a satellite image from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra satellite taken on august 21 2009. Intact forest is deep green, while cleared areas are tan (bare ground) or light green (crops, pasture, or occasionally, second-growth forest).

Keywords for this photo:

2009 - AMAZON - AMAZON RAINFOREST - BRAZIL - COMPARISON - DEFORESTATION - EARTH - EARTH FROM SPACE - FIRE - FOREST - MODIS - RAINFOREST - SATELLITE IMAGE - SOUTH AMERICA - TERRA -