SEASONAL DYNAMICS OF THE REMAINING ATLANTIC FOREST, FROM A TIME SERIES NDVI/MODIS

Abstract

doi: 10.12957/geouerj.2017.15868

Remote sensing of multitemporal orbital data is an effective tool of great potential in environmental studies. The temporal series of vegetation indices such as NDVI can help in studies that involve the analysis and monitoring of types and changes of vegetation cover. The present work had the objective of analyzing the seasonal dynamics of forest remnants of the Atlantic Forest, from a time series of NDVI / MODIS images from 2000 to 2011, in the Sinos river basin - RS. From the MODIS images, temporal spectra were generated for the Phytophysiognomy of Semidecidual Seasonal Lowland Forest; Submontane Semidecidual Seasonal Forest; Semidecidual Seasonal Forest Montana; And Mixed Ombrophilous Forest. Based on the temporal spectra it is observed that the NDVI maintains a temporal pattern, generally with smaller values in the winter and larger values in the summer. This temporal characteristic has variable monthly amplitudes. The seasonal dynamics of the NDVI are influenced mainly by the variation of the temperatures between the seasons of the year. The semi-deciduous characteristic, due to the low temperatures imposed on the phytophysiognomies, changes the spectral dynamics of the vegetation and, therefore, the range of NDVI variation.