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Amazon deforestation: Timelapse

amazon-deforestation-timelapse

The Amazon rainforest is shrinking at a rapid rate to provide land for farming and raising cattle. Each frame of the timelapse map is constructed from a year of Landsat satellite data, constituting an annual 1.7-terapixel snapshot of the Earth at 30-meter resolution. The Landsat program, managed by the USGS, has been acquiring images of the Earth’s surface since 1972. Landsat provides critical scientific information about our changing planet.

YouTube video
For the interactive timelapse version of this tour, visit http://earthengine.google.org

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5 Comments

  1. My question to this guy is, “Have you ever been to Brazil?” He keeps saying that the Amazon forest is being destroyed in Mato Grosso. If you look at a map, you will see that the Amazon Forest is very far north. What the people are clearing in Mato Grosso are small shrub like trees called cerrado. They are junk trees that don’t grow well. They deserve to be cleared so the world can eat. Clearing of trees in the ACTUAL Amazon Forest is allowed, but 80% must be set aside as legal reserve… which means if you buy 100 hectars to farm, you can only plant on 20 hectars. The remaining 80 must be left as is, to protect the forest. This is too expensive for people to do, which is why the central regions of Brazil are perfect for farming. Environmentalists will say whatever they want, true or not, to make themselves feel better. I’m all for saving the environment, but I don’t like misleading people. GO there and see for yourself.

  2. The people of the Amazon have as much right to farm land as any other continent does. They have a right to food and a betterment of their society. it is only because the rest of the world is in chaos that we have to be picky now. shame on us.

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