COMPARISON AMONG TIME SERIES MAPS OF DEFORESTATION IN THE AMAZON: HOW INDEPENDENT MONITORING SYSTEMS RELATE TO OFFICIAL DATA

This study compares raster maps of Amazon deforestation during annual time intervals from 2008 to 2020 that derive from three sources: Global Forest Change (GFC), MapBiomas, and PRODES. We perform pairwise map overlays between PRODES and each of GFC and MapBiomas. Each overlay generates a square contingency table, which reveals Misses, Hits, and False Alarms. GFC shows more deforestation than PRODES while MapBiomas shows less deforestation between 2008 and 2020. Both MapBiomas and GFC have more disagreement than agreement with PRODES. False Alarms constitute 64% of GFC’s deforestation and 27% of MapBiomas’s deforestation with respect to PRODES. GFC missed 8% of PRODES deforestation while MapBiomas missed 33% between 2008 and 2020. We report Misses, Hits, and False Alarms for each of the 13 years.