Monitoring pasture intesification in brazilian Amazon biome with MODIS and Landsat time series

A dramatic increase in agricultural production can be observed during the past decades in Brazil, mostly due to increases in yield. Furthermore the sugarcane production increased based on area expansion, mainly over pasture areas. In the same period Brazil became a leading global beef producer. Brazilian official agricultural statistics time series data on agricultural production from 1980 until today and census data at municipality level can show trends and consequences of agricultural and sugarcane area expansion, as well as, pasture area and livestock production. Detailed analysis is needed, considering for example the geographical distribution, the types of systems involved (e.g. purely pasture and integrated crop-livestock integration iCL) and management variables. Some efforts have been made in order to study these aspects, especially in the Brazilian agricultural frontiers. Sugarcane and crop masks obtained by satellite imagery can indicate where the expansion and intensification occurred. Furthermore detailed analysis, based on time series of satellite images, can indicate what type of intensification is happening and what management practices are responsible for that. As an example: animal rotation is a key factor in pasture management and intensification, it has been quantitatively evaluated in Brazil but just in a very limited extent, and it ́s readily amenable to remote sensing approaches. The goal of this study is characterize pasture areas according to their management with MODIS time series.