THE USE OF SPRING IN THE ANALYSIS OF THE PROCESS OCCUPATION IN RIO GRANDE HYDROGRAPHIC BASINS NORTHERN/RN

Abstract

Aiming at the spatial analysis of the process of land use in river basins, which shower the east coast of the Rio Grande do Norte state, the use of Satellite images of TM / Landsat and CBERS, made available by INPE, has been deemed, taking as software Spring / INPE 4.2, occasionally used for the implementation of digital mapping of the area of seven (7) watersheds, with their respective forms of occupation and use. These procedures include the basins of the Guaju River, which also includes areas of the Paraiba state, the basin of the Catu River, the basin of the Pirangi River, the basin of the Doce River, the basin of the Maxaranguape River, the basin of the Punaú River and the basin of the Boqueirão River. All of them but the first are included in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, at the mouth of its east coast. The main reason for the selection of these basins lies in the small extension of the drained area and in the demand of the use of their natural resources. By means of this analysis, one can see that the more intense interference of human activities observed in the basins occur in areas near the shore, and that different forms of occupation of land reflect changes in the natural landscape, which contribute significantly to the exposure of areas that are vulnerable to the action of the agents of erosion.