PRODES (Deforestation Monitoring of Brazilian Biomes by Satellite)

PRODES (Programa de Monitoramento do Desmatamento dos Biomas Brasileiros por Satelite) is an annual deforestation monitoring product produced by Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) covering all major Brazilian biomes^[1][2]. The product derives polygon-based deforestation area estimates from multi-source satellite imagery and is distributed freely through the TerraBrasilis geospatial platform^[3].

The primary input imagery is Landsat-8 OLI at 30 m resolution, supplemented by CBERS-4A MUX (20 m) and Sentinel-2 MSI (10 m) for cloud gap-filling^[4][1]. The Amazon biome minimum mapping unit is 6.25 ha; for Cerrado and other biomes the ISPRS Annals methodology paper records a threshold of 1 ha^[2], and tier-1 INPE documentation confirming the per-biome values was not accessible from the downloads portal. Output is distributed as Shapefiles (the confirmed primary download format from TerraBrasilis^[3]); GeoTIFF distribution is referenced in the TerraBrasilis About page^[1] but was not separately verified from the download catalogue.

The Amazon series extends back to 1988, providing a multi-decade baseline for trend analysis^[2]. Other biomes, including Cerrado, Caatinga, Mata Atlantica, Pampa, and Pantanal, carry shorter baselines introduced in subsequent phases of the programme. Data are produced under a dry-season acquisition window to minimise cloud cover; year-over-year consistency varies by biome depending on the availability of cloud-free scenes^[1].

PRODES serves as the official legal benchmark for Brazilian government Amazon deforestation targets and supports REDD+ accounting and UNFCCC national greenhouse gas inventory reporting^[4]. It is referenced as a baseline in the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) compliance context. For near-real-time forest loss signals, the complementary DETER system provides sub-annual alerts; PRODES is the consolidation layer used for annual official estimates^[4][5].