Analyzing the Impacts of Deforestation on the Hydroclimate in Northwestern Belize Tropical Forests

Abstract:

Central America’s tropical forests have historically undergone a multitude of anthropogenic land use changes. Humans have continuously occupied northwestern Belize since the ancient Maya, ~3,000 to 1000 years ago, to today’s Mennonite farmers. Multiple land change practices have widely altered the landscape through these occupation periods. Deforestation, a prevalent land use change, is rapidly altering current environmental dynamics in tropical forests. Research suggests that anthropogenic deforestation is a probable driver for changes within hydroclimate cycles. This study analyzes satellite data from NASA’s Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) and Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), assessing a 20-year precipitation record of the northwestern Belize tropical forest, to study the impacts of deforestation on the hydroclimate. To quantify the potential relationship between deforestation and hydroclimate, this study generated a Google Earth Engine script to derive annual rainfall averages in the study area. In addition, this project used Landsat-derived deforestation maps to highlight high impact zones of deforestation. This study takes these high impact zones as case studies of deforestation and precipitation change and analyzes precipitation as one of the indicators of hydroclimate shifts. To evaluate data accuracy, this project validated data by using precipitation gauges in the region for ground-truth assessments. Although similar studies have been conducted in Amazonia, there have been few attempts to use remote sensing data to analyze deforestation impacts on northwestern Belize tropical forests and to link deforestation to climate change.