Multitemporal mapping and analysis of land use and occupation in the municipalities of Baianópolis and Cristópolis, Bahia, Brazil

Abstract

The satellite images made available today by research agencies are technological tools of crucial importance for the remote study of areas that cannot be easily covered, but that need to be viewed, analyzed and studied. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the use and occupation of the Cerrado soil in two municipalities in the West of Bahia, Cristópolis and Baianópolis, a region where agriculture is predominant. For the development of this research, orbital images of the Landsat 5 satellites, TM sensor (ThematicMapper) and Landsat 8, OLI sensor (Operational Terra Imager), orbita219, and points 68 and 69, with spatial resolution of 30 meters, from the years 1989 were acquired , 1994, 1999, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2019. These images were treated and then submitted to supervised classification, where 6 classes of land use and occupation were identified: urban area, agriculture, burning, exposed soil, undergrowth and dense vegetation. This classification shows that there was an increase in agriculture over the past 30 years, accompanied by an increase in fires and exposed soil, showing that the economic growth provided by agro-activity was accompanied by considerable environmental degradation, reaching the native Cerrado phytophysiognomy that are the low and dense vegetation in the cities analyzed. It is concluded that the biome requires attention and sustainable management must be sought in order to preserve biodiversity and minimize social impacts.