Deter, a system based on satellites of Brazil’s National Institute for Space Research (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais – Inpe) aimed at monitoring Amazon rainforest, has warned 388.13 km² of clearing or degradation in January, February and March, 2012. The number represents the sum of warnings recorded in the last three months of 2012.

Between November and April, which is the rainy season in the Amazon, the observation through satellites becomes harder due to the intensity of clouds covering the region. Thus Inpe groups the months, although the system continues the regular operation and sends data to Ibama throughout this time. This time Inpe publishes information of March along with January and February due to a Ministry of Environment requirement.

Yellow dots on the map below represent the location of an alert issued by Deter. Pink areas are places that could not be monitored due clouds coverage.

Deter_Janeiro2012
Alert Map of January, when 85% of the Legal Amazon area remained covered by clouds
Deter_Fevereiro2012
Alert Map of February, when 57% of the Legal Amazon area remained covered by clouds
Deter_Marco2012
Alert Map of March, when 55% of the Legal Amazon area remained covered by clouds

Due to cloud cover variation between two months, also to satellite resolution, Inpe does not recommend to compare data from different months or years obtained by Deter. Check out the full reports on Deter website.

Source: Inpe