natural heritage sites from space. monitoring the national...
TRANSCRIPT
Natural heritage sites from space. Monitoring The National Park Iguazu, Argentina-Brasil
Presutti, Miriam 1, Salinas de Salmuni, Graciela2
1. Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias y Forestales. Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires. Argentina. [email protected] 2. Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales, CONAE. Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina. [email protected]
The Iguazú National Park is located in the north of the province of Misiones, Argentine Mesopotamia. It has an area of 550 km2. The park was created in 1934 and it contains one of the greatest natural beauties of Argentina, the Iguazu Falls, surrounded by the subtropical jungle. Across the Iguazu River lies its Brazilian counterpart (Iguaçu National Park). Both sites were declared World Heritage Sites by UNESCO, in 1984. The park lays in the Bosque Atlántico ecoregion, which represent one of the more diverse forest systems in the world, recognized at global level as high priority conservation by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). The great threat in the region is the extreme fragmentation and degradation of the forest and one of the principal reasons is the agricultural expansion. The habitat destruction linked to high degree of endemism turn conservation action urgent.
Introduction
Optical images SAR Images
This work is part of the project “Remote Sensing technology applied to management of natural and cultural heritage in pilot sites located in Italy and Argentina. Risk monitoring and mitigation strategies” carried out by CONAE and the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche in the framework of Bilateral Cooperation Program Argentina-Italia between Mincyt and Unità per la cooperazione scientifica e tecnológica Minitero degli Affari Esteri. The objective of this project is to control the accomplishment of the rules of UNESCO related to protection and preservation of natural and cultural resources highly exposed to touristic activity.
Historical SPOT-5 data was radiometric and spatially processed. Change detection techniques were applied to get detailed maps of changes happened in the study area during the last decades. In addition, CONAE acquired periodically CosmoSkymed SAR data. The synergism between this two data is very well-known, the optical data interact with the chlorophyll and water inside the forest and the SAR data is capable to bring structural parameters of its. Remote sensing, optical and radar, is a powerful tool to monitoring the landscape.
Many projects can be found in Internet free of cost, the University of Maryland published the Global Forest Change, results from time-series analysis of Landsat images for the period 2000-2013. SAR image is actually more affordable, even the software to process them; ALOS-1 PALSAR data are now unrestricted.
Remote sensing can be a valuable tool in understanding emerging threats to heritage sites. It can also be used to follow-up whether conservation measures have been effective or not. Satellite images are also used a means to improve the information flow and communication among site managers and conservation authorities.
Wishart Classification Result. ALOS PALSAR
ALOS PALSAR Color composition R: HH January G: HH September B: HV September
Park boundary