The ORNL DAAC announces the release of maps depicting historical spatial patterns of land-use in the Amazon. These maps are from the Land Cover and Land Use Change science theme, a component of the LBA-ECO Large Scale Biosphere-Atmosphere Experiment in Amazonia (LBA).
LBA-ECO LC-31 Historical Land-Use in the Amazon: 1940-1995 . Data set prepared by C.C. Leite and M.H. Costa. This data set provides annual spatial patterns of cropland, natural pasture, and planted pasture land uses across Amazonia for the period 1940/1950-1995. Two series of 5-minute grid cell historical maps were generated starting from land use classification products for 1995. Annual data are the fraction of natural pasture, planted pasture, and cropland in each 5-min grid cell. Data were derived from municipal level data, and land use classification products.
LBA was an international research initiative under the leadership of Brazil. The project focused on the climatological, ecological, biogeochemical, and hydrological functions of Amazonia; the impact of land use change on these functions; and the interactions between Amazonia and the Earth system. The LBA-ECO component, which was funded by NASA, focused on the question: "How do tropical forest conversion, regrowth, and selective logging influence carbon storage, nutrient dynamics, trace gas fluxes, and the prospect for sustainable land use in Amazonia? "
The ORNL DAAC is a NASA-funded data center archiving and distributing terrestrial ecology and biogeochemical dynamics data.