LBA-ECO Synthesis Studies of Intensive Agriculture Impacts in the Amazon/Cerrado: Field Data, Remote Sensing, Modeling Approaches
Christopher
Potter, NASA Ames, cpotter@mail.arc.nasa.gov
(Presenting)
Mercedes
Bustamante, Universidade de Brasília, mercedes@unb.br
Alessandra
Kozovits, Universidade de Brasília, kozovits@unb.br
Richard
Zepp, US EPA, Zepp.Richard@epamail.epa.gov
Laerte
Ferreira, Universidade Federal de Goias, laerte@iesa.ufg.br
Alfredo
Huete, Univ. Arizona, ahuete@Ag.arizona.edu
Steven
Klooster, California State Univ., sklooster@mail.arc.nasa.gov
Marc
Kramer, UC Santa Cruz, mkramer@mail.arc.nasa.gov
The expansion of intensive agricultural practices into former Cerrado and seasonal forests of the eastern Amazon has increased markedly over the past several years. Over the last 30 years an estimated 37 percent of Cerrado natural vegetation has been transformed, with more than 12 million hectares planted to crops consisting mostly of soybeans, maize, and rice. We are synthesizing measurement data and MODIS remote sensing observations at locations that represent conversion of Cerrado types and Amazon forests to intensive agricultural land use. A principal objective is to improve calibration of the NASA-CASA model and subsequently evaluate and refine a series of regional model simulation runs for these transformed ecosystems.