Quantcast
  • Digg
  • del.icio.us

Deforestation Patterns in the Amazon

Credit: Image credit: USGS/NASA/MODIS team, Posted on: Saturday, 10 April 2004, 06:00 CDT Download full size image

Deforestation in the Amazon Rainforest is occurring most rapidly along a curve that hugs the southeastern edge of the forest that scientists and resource managers have come to call the Arc of Deforestation. The land is cleared for cattle ranching, small-scale subsistence farming, logging, and, increasingly, soybean production for world markets. Satellite maps of deforestation over the years have revealed that this deforestation often follows a herringbone pattern, in which a new road appears as a thin line of cleared terrain, followed by the appearance of parallel clearings on either side of the road. three separate land surface categories: forest (red), herbaceous (non-woody) vegetation like grasses (green), and bare ground (blue). The Amazon’s numerous rivers appear white.






More Images

Mars
Sand Dunes On Mars.Sand Dunes on Mars (HiRise Camera)...

Universe
Looking in Detail at a Spectacular Double-Ring Basin.This spectacular 290-kilometer-diameter double-ring basin seen in detail for the first time during M...



redOrbit Friends


Quiz Me

What is the Yellowstone Caldera?
Geyser
Forest
Hotspring
Volcano
or View Results