Landsat Imagery of an Amazonian Agriculture Frontier: 1984-1999

Seven Landsat GeoTIFF images capture the municipality of Sao Francisco do Para in the Bragantina region of Para, Brazil, across three dates: July 24, 1984 (MSS), June 21, 1994 (TM5), and July 13, 1999 (TM7). This dataset provides a time-series view of the oldest agriculture frontier in Amazonia, enabling analysis of land cover change. The imagery consists of subsets focused on the county and its immediate region.

Use Cases

• [Land cover change detection] based on [multispectral imagery from 1984, 1994, and 1999]
• [Agricultural frontier expansion analysis] based on [time-series imagery of the oldest Amazonian frontier]
• [Regional geospatial baseline creation] based on [subsets for the municipio and immediate area]
• [Multispectral sensor comparison] based on [MSS and Thematic Mapper (TM) data]

Strengths

• Provides a 15-year time series (1984-1999) for a historically significant region.
• Includes imagery from multiple Landsat sensors (MSS, TM5, TM7).
• Data is hosted by NASA, indicating authoritative provenance.
• Available on multiple platforms (Data.gov, NASA Earthdata), suggesting established use.

Limitations

• Metadata is sparse; specific spectral bands, resolution, and processing levels are not described.
• Conflicting 'last updated' dates (1999 vs. 2026) create uncertainty about data currency.
• The dataset is small (7 files), offering limited spatial and temporal coverage.

Provenance

Source

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Collection Method

Acquired via Landsat satellites (Multispectral Scanner, Thematic Mapper).

Time Range

1984 to 1999

Freshness

The most recent platform update is listed as 2026-04 10, but the data itself is from 1999.

Geography

Sao Francisco do Para county, Bragantina region, Para, Brazil.