LBA-ECO ND-01: Forest Clearing Age Maps for Rondonia, Brazil

Rondonia, Brazil, is covered by three classified land cover transition maps at 30-meter resolution. These GeoTIFF images depict the age of cleared land relative to the year 2000, showing when primary forest transitioned to non-forest. The dataset synthesizes 31 Landsat TM scenes from 1984-1999 and two MSS scenes from 1975 and 1978 for the Ariquemes, Luiza, and Ji-Parana areas.

Use Cases

• Quantifying deforestation rates based on pixel values representing years since forest clearing.
• Modeling temporal patterns of land cover change using imagery spanning 1975 to 1999.
• Calibrating regional carbon flux estimates with spatially explicit data on forest age.
• Validating satellite-derived deforestation alerts against a historical baseline map.

Strengths

• Provides a 24-year temporal record (1975-1999) of forest clearing.
• Offers high-resolution (30-meter) spatial detail for three specific regions in Rondonia.
• Integrates data from two Landsat sensor generations (MSS and TM).

Limitations

• Metadata completeness is low; column names and exact file sizes are unknown.
• Sources conflict on the last updated date (1999 vs. 2026), suggesting potential metadata staleness.
• Spatial coverage is limited to three areas within Rondonia, not the entire Amazon.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Derived from classified Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Multispectral Scanner (MSS) imagery.

Time Range

1975 to 1999

Freshness

Last updated dates conflict: 1999-10-16 (nasa_earthdata) and 2026-04-10 (datagov).

Geography

Ariquemes, Luiza, and Ji-Parana areas in Rondonia, Brazil