Abstract

CARNEVALE, N. J.; ALZUGARAY, C.  and  DI LEO, N.. Studying deforestation in the forest wedge of Santa Fe using satellite remote sensing. Quebracho (Santiago del Estero) [online]. 2007, n.14, pp.47-56. ISSN 0328-0543.

Deforestation in several states of Argentina since times of colonization (1800) has made great damage. The firewood and charcoal industry and specially the extraction of tannin have been the principal causes of this process during the past decades. To follow the deforestation processes, remote sensing has been a very helpful tool, since it is a very fast and accurate method for environmental studies, and allows an easy evaluation over the threatened ecological areas. The goal of this work is to determine the deforestation index in the Cuña Boscosa santafesina, during the period 1976-2005. Landsat images were georeferenced, and classified with known coordinates. Normalized differences vegetation index (NDVI) were generated for the different dates. The following step was a multitemporal analysis. The obtained deforestation index  (q=-2,30 and r=-2,32), confirm the increasing devastation of the native forest. This deforestation, much higher than world average, shows an intense fragmentation of the forest, illustrated in the images classification.  In the last five years this deforestation increased as a consequence of the indirect expansion of the agricultural frontier.

Keywords : Multitemporal analysis; Cuña Boscosa; Deforestation; Remote sensing.

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