IMPACT OF DEFORESTATION ON THE PROPOSED MESOAMERICAN BIOLOGICAL CORRIDOR IN

This study uses the dry season Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) of 1982 to 2000 derived from Advanced Very High Resolution Radiometer (AVHRR) to identify regions of substantial deforestation in Central America. High-resolution nested grid simulations, using the Colorado State University (CSU) Regional Atmospheric Modeling System (RAMS), are conducted over the identified regions of deforestation. These simulations examine cloud formation for three land use scenarios: 1) completely forested; 2) current land use; and 3) deforested conditions. In the deforestation scenario the locations of the proposed Mesoamerican Biological Corridor (MBC) are kept forested while pasture conditions are assumed for other areas. These simulations help identify locations where high deforestation has significant climatic impact on the proposed biological corridor. Model simulations show that with pastures surrounding forests in the proposed corridor, several locations within the corridor will have suppressed cloud formation.