Alterations of Land Use and Coverageand Impacts on the Regional Climate of the Eastern Amazon

Abstract

Extreme weather events have increased in recent years in the Amazon region. According to the Climate Change Panel, the IPCC, the main anthropogenic factors involved in the climate are the use of land in an unsustainable way, and the occupation of this land without planning and environmental ethics, thus causing the most important climate drivers such as deforestation, change in surface albedo, warming of the environment, among others. The present work aimed to characterize the persistent changes in climate patterns and the evolution of land use and cover in Marabá. It was observed a loss of more than 581,624.97 hectares of forest areas in the municipality, which corresponds to 38.44% of the municipality's territorial area, and the increase of 577,982.61 hectares of agricultural area, approximately 38.20% of the area municipal. In the reduced-scale spatial scenario, urbanized and mining areas increased by 3,769.95 (0.24%) and 3,009.61 (0.19%) hectares in the municipal territory, respectively. The climate has also changed in recent decades, with an increase of up to 0.4°C in maximum air temperature and a reduction of up to 31% in monthly precipitation in August.