Multitemporal, moderate-spatial-resolution remote sensing of modern agricultural production and land modification in the Brazilian Amazon

We present an extensive review of the literature on remote sensing and land change in Amazonia as part of a call for new methods to study the recent expansion of mechanized annual cropping. Following the review is a presentation of the use of multitemporal Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) 250-meter Vegetation Index (VI) data to study processes of intensification of mechanized agriculture in Vilhena, Rondônia, Brazil, an Amazonian soy-producing municipality. The case study shows that the high temporal resolution and moderate spatial resolution of the MODIS VI data hold promise for acquiring information necessary to answer important questions about mechanized agriculture and its relationship to deforestation.