The objective of this research is to apply the Radiometric Rotation Controlled by No-change Axis (RCNA) technique on Landsat TM images, 2004 and 2008, covering the coastal dry land of the Region of Maule, Chile, in order to obtain the spatial distribution of changes and degradation in the forest landscape. The RCNA procedure allows the use of images without atmospheric calibrations, whose empirical method for the label was based on field observations. The Kappa Index for the change thematic image was 0.74, showing that the recovery and loss of vegetation were 17 and 5%, respectively. SRTM (Shuttle Radar Topography Mission) data were used to derive slope angle, where the major proportion of no-change surface occurs in areas of high and low slope. In the category of recovery of vegetation, the major proportion takes place in the 10-50% slope class. On the other hand, the loss vegetation is uniformly distributed through the whole gradient of the slope angle.
semi-arid; change detection; remote sensing; radiometric rotation
