Padrão de distribuição de incêndios florestais no sul do Amazonas

Abstract

Forest fires pose a major threat to the Amazon, as their frequency and intensity have increased over the years. In addition to causing the mortality of trees and animals causing the loss of biodiversity, the fires release into the atmosphere a dense cloud of pollutants, affecting both the health of people near the burning site, as well as distant places, due to the transport of smoke through the air currents. Faced with this worrying reality, research activity was undertaken covering the southern region of the state of Amazonas, composed of the cities of Apuí, Boca do Acre, Canutama, Humaitá, Lábrea, Manicoré and Novo Aripuanã, with the objective of analyzing the space-time dynamics of occurrence of the risks of forest fires, in the period between 2009 and 2019. The study area is part of the 'Arc of deforestation' – a region recognized as a border between agricultural activities and the Amazon Forest and also, due to the intense use of fire in these activities. Due to the extension of the analysis area, satellite data is an important tool in the identification and mapping of areas subject to fires, allowing the identification of those that burn the most and when. From the space-time analysis, it was found that among the analyzed municipalities, Lábrea leads the records of heat foci, followed by Apuí, Manicoré, Novo Aripuanã and Boca do Acre. The municipalities of Canutama and Humaitá are the ones with the lowest records. The years 2013, 2011 and 2009 (in ascending order) are the years with fewer records of heat foci, while the years 2019, 2017, 2015, 2010, 2018 and 2016 (in descending order) draw attention to their records of active heat foci above 10,000/year. Weather events such as El Niño act as a potentiating of the risk of fires, as they cause decreased precipitation and increased temperature. However, even if there is no record of climatic phenomenon and with accumulated precipitation volumes above 2,300 mm/year, the last four years analyzed draw attention to the upward behavior in the numbers of heat foci. Thus, through the use of remote sensing techniques, geoprocessing and use of surface data, the fire risk map was generated for the municipalities of the South of the state of Amazonas, in which it was evidenced that the areas with the highest risk of burning are those along highways, settlement projects and their surroundings, understood by public and/or private lands.