This paper presents the application of the normalized difference vegetation index to assess the vegetation dynamics for the period between years 2017 and 2021 at Brumadinho, MG, Brazil. The normalized difference vegetation index was calculated using a Google Earth Engine script applying Sentinel 2 data with a spatial resolution of 10 meters, to quantify the extent of the affected area and assess the vegetation dynamic after the disaster. The Dwass-Steel-Crichlow-Fligner test for nonparametric data was used for a pairwise comparison between years and the confidence interval was calculated using bootstrap with 9999 repetitions. The total area affected by the dam brake was 2662 ha. The NDVI values presented a statistically significant decrease from 2017 to 2019, with little increase until 2021. Mean NDVI values were 0.314003 [0.31028; 0.317564], 0.339887 [0.336591; 0.343231], 0.145814 [0.144004; 0.1476], 0.1495 [0.147676; 0.15128], and 0.15572 [0.153727; 0.15774] for 2017–2021, respectively. According to the results, we conclude that the vegetation in the affected area did not fully recover.
Part of the book: Natural Hazards