I-011-DIUC Change COB Description of changes in coverage in the basins of the PAute River and the Chanchan River in the last 20 years based on the analysis of Landsat images.

The central problem that forms the basis of this proposal consists in the fact that within the regional there is no firm base of information on the evolution of coverage during the last decades in the hydrographic basins of the Ecuadorian Sierra. This type of information is necessary for the modeling of hydrophysic processes in the hydrographic basins and for the sustainable planning of the use of natural resources. This research then wants to contribute to the understanding of historical processes of change in coverage in the Ecuadorian Sierra based on a space-time analysis of Landsat satellite images of the last two decades combined with verifications in the field. To this end, Landsat satellite images will be used in combination with verifications in the field, based on the hypothesis that this procedure allows to describe the main changes in use in the region in a quantitative and qualitative way for the last 2 decades. A geographical information system for the project will be established and the due preparation of images and aerial photos will be carried out. Field surveys will serve to obtain training and verification sites for the classification of images. The classification of the images will be carried out with classifiers, soft, process that will allow more extensively to validate these advanced techniques for our environment. The innovative element of this research is that it will be investigated as establishing a series over time and change techniques will be applied. Complementing this work with a characterization in the field of areas subject to change, the main result will be maps that present the changes on surfaces without coverage, forest surfaces and fragmented areas in agricultural use.

IV RESEARCH PROJECT COMPETITION AND I RESEARCH PROGRAMS COMPETITION