Land use change and local climatic impacts in north-east Entre Ríos (Argentina).

VERÓN S. R.; DE ABELLEYRA, D.; PROPATO, T. S.; CASADEI, P.; FERRAINA, A.

Simposio; International Symposium on Society and Resource Management; 2018

Land transformation is one of the most significant changes done by humans. Characterization of the distribution of different land uses allow the estimation of the level of  alteration of carbon and water cycle, energy balance, nutrient cycling and biodiversity.  This information repeated in time contributes to describe transitions among land uses and  quantify the impact of these changes. The objective of this work was to characterize main transitions that occurred in the North East of Entre Ríos Province in Argentina and estimate land use change impact on local climate. Classifications were performed for 3 seasons: 2002/2003, 2005/2006 and 2013/2014 considering 5 land use classes: natural forest, planted forest, croplands, rangelands and fruitcrops. LANDSAT 5, 7 and 8 satellite images were used to generate maps at 30 m resolution. Impact variables considered were: evapotranspiration, surface temperature and albedo that were obtained from MODIS satellite at 1 km resolution. Results showed an increment in planted forest area from 8.4 % of total area in 2002/2003 to 12.1 % in 2013/2014, together with a reduction in area of natural forest (from 13.4 to 9,7 %) and fruitcrops (1.5 to 1.1%). Rangelands and cropland areas remained relatively stable (near 38 % each). Transition analysis show that natural forest was mostly transformed to rangelands while forest plantations were originated mainly from rangelands, suggesting a frequent transition of natural forest - rangelands - forest plantations. Significant differences were found in albedo, evapotranspiration and temperature among classes. Albedo values decreased in the order: rangelands, croplands, planted and natural forests, while evapotranspiration was higher for planted forests,  followed by natural forest, rangelands and croplands. Daily surface temperature was higher for rangelands and croplands and lower for natural and planted forests.