Estimación de impactos ambientales por incendios forestales en la cuenca alta del río casacay aplicando series temporales de ndvi

Abstract

The study focused on the estimation of the environmental impacts that occurred in the upper watershed of the Casacay River during a period of time from 2003 to 2022, by analyzing the changes in the NDVI trend and its relationship with wildfires occurred in the region. Through a bibliographic review, six forest fires were obtained in the upper watershed of the Casacay River. The Google Earth Engine platform is used to download data by applying the MODIS product: Vegetation Index and the Earth Explorer platform for the MODIS product: Thermal Anomalies/Fires to download satellite images of the identified wildfires. To estimate impacts, the Hunt and Johnson methodology was used, which quantitatively assesses the criteria of frequency of occurrence, probability of loss of control and severity. The results show that the wildfire with the most impact is the one that occurred in September 2012, the second that occurred that year, which shows that a greater frequency will worsen the impacts on the ecosystem. The study demonstrated that fires can cause both increases and decreases in RR, depending on the severity and magnitude of the event. In particular, it will be observed that the vegetation in the upper watershed of the Casacay River has a tendency to present regrowth of the Pinus patula species, having a negative native effect since it tends to colonize areas where there was vegetation.