Monitoring of biome degradation in the northeastern semi-arid region, Brazil

Degradation of Caatinga biome has created desertification processes in several areas, inducing big microclimate and surface changes. Therefore, it is fundamental develop research methods capable of identifying areas under degradation process. Satellite images in different spatial, temporal, radiometric and spectral resolutions are being used to monitor big areas from several biomes worldwide. The objective of this study was to evaluate and quantify the degree of degradation and preservation of the Caatinga biome, using geoprocessing methods and remote sensing products, using surface data and Landsat-8 images for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Remote sensing methods were used to estimate the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), surface albedo (α) and Moving Standard Deviation Index (MDSI). The results showed that the vegetation indexes and the techniques of degradation and change detection satisfactorily identified the behavior of the surrounding vegetation in the study area, standing out as good indices for degradation processes in the semiarid. It was concluded that change detection and classification by decision tree methods were efficient in the identification of anthropized areas during the experimental period.