**3. Remote sensing and coastal environmental sensitivity in Brazil**

Brazil has an expansive coastline through the equatorial region to the subtropical latitude of the south hemisphere. The length is approximately 8.500 km with 17 of the 26 states of the country lying on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. The Brazilian coast is defined by the National Plan for Coastal Management (law 7661/1988), as the geographic space where there are air, sea and land interacts, which includes renewable and non-renewable resources along a maritime and terrestrial border.

A diversity of coastal environments and population densities are found along the Brazilian coast. Population is higher in state capitals than in the other coastal municipalities. Environments vary from very productive, such as mangroves, to rocky and artificial manmade structures. Man-made structures, such as ports are established along the entire coastline of Brazil (Figure 2).

Ports are high-risk areas, and oil spill monitoring is clearly important there. In 2000, two large oil spills occurred at Baía de Guanabara (Rio de Janeiro) and Paraná, both resulting from pipeline ruptures. After these accidents, fundamental changes have been made to

Remote Sensing and Environmental Sensitivity for Oil Spill in the Amazon, Brazil 317

**Resolution Sensor Method Scale Case study (State)** 

Field data collection Operational

Tactical, Operational

Tactical, Operational

Tactical, Operational

Operational

Tactical, Operational

Operational

Field data collection Operational Vitória Bay

Field data collection Operational São Sebastião

Cananéia-Iguape Estuary (São Paulo)

Potiguar Sedimentary Basin

> Santos Estuary (São Paulo)

Potiguar Sedimentary Basin (Ceará and Rio Grande do Norte)

Municipality of Imbatuba (Santa Catarina)

Municipality of Ubatuba

Southeast and south area (Santa Catarina)

Santa Catarina Island and surrounding areas (Santa Catarina)

Municipalities of Itapoa, Barra Vellha, Piçarras, Itajaí, Balneário Camboriú (Santa Catarina)

(Espírito Santo)

Island (São Paulo)

Cananéia-Iguape Estuary (São Paulo)

Literature review,

Highly precision field data collection with DGPS, Previous database research, visual classification

Visual classification, field data collection

Automatic classification, visual interpretation, Field data collection

Visual interpretation, Previous database research, Field data collection

Previous database research, Field data collection

Visual interpretation, field works, literature review

Visual interpretation,

Visual interpretation,

Visual interpretation,

(São Paulo) High Aerial

Field data collection Operational

Field data collection Operational

Field data collection Operational

(Rio Grande do Moderate Norte)

**Author Spatial** 

al. (2010) High Aerial

et al. (2008) High Aerial

photography

Radarsat

Landsat 7 ETM+, Cbers-2, Cbers-2B

photography

ETM+

photography

ETM+

photography

(2007) High Ikonos Visual interpretation,

photography

photography

Moderate Cbers Visual interpretation,

Moderate Landsat 7 TM+ Visual interpretation,

Low SRTM,

Moderate Landsat 7 ETM

Moderate Landsat 7

(2008) Moderate Landsat 7 TM+

(2008) High Aerial

et al. (2007) High Aerial

Moderate Landsat 7

High Aerial

Romero, et

Silva et al. (2010)

Cantagalo

Carvalho & Gherardi (2008)

Bellotto & Sarolli (2008)

Poletto & Batista (2008)

Rocha-Oliveira et al. (2008)

Silva et al.

Araújo et al. (2007)

Chacaltana

Lima et al.

Wieczorek

Fig. 2. Main ports of the Brazilian coast (IBAMA, 2011).

the environmental policies of Brazil and PETROBRAS (Souza Filho et al., 2009b), in order to give priority to prevention and mitigation activities.

After these accidents, the prevention and mitigation oil spill impacts became a priority. The law 9966/2000 was established to regulate the activities of prevention, control and supervision of pollution caused by oil and other dangerous substances in Brazilian waters. The Ministry of the Environment has the responsibility of identifying, locating and defining the boundaries of the ecologically sensitive areas to oil spills. Ecologically sensitive areas are defined as regions where special attention is needed in order to protect and preserve the environment from pollution by regulatory and preventive measures (MMA, 2002). In this context, Araújo et al. (2002) published the document "Basic Manual for the Elaboration of Maps of Environmental Sensitivity to Oil Spills in the Petrobras System: Coastal and Estuarine Environments" edited by the Ministry of the Environment (Climate Change and Quality Environmental Secretary) and based on PETROBRAS (2002) and NOAA (2002).

This change in attitude was reflected in a large production of oil spill environmental sensitivity maps for the Brazilian coast (Araújo et al., 2006) (Table 2). These maps are produced in order to support environmental management and the elaboration and implementation of contingency plans. The ESI preparation was intensified through Decrees 4136/2002 and 4871/2003.

the environmental policies of Brazil and PETROBRAS (Souza Filho et al., 2009b), in order to

After these accidents, the prevention and mitigation oil spill impacts became a priority. The law 9966/2000 was established to regulate the activities of prevention, control and supervision of pollution caused by oil and other dangerous substances in Brazilian waters. The Ministry of the Environment has the responsibility of identifying, locating and defining the boundaries of the ecologically sensitive areas to oil spills. Ecologically sensitive areas are defined as regions where special attention is needed in order to protect and preserve the environment from pollution by regulatory and preventive measures (MMA, 2002). In this context, Araújo et al. (2002) published the document "Basic Manual for the Elaboration of Maps of Environmental Sensitivity to Oil Spills in the Petrobras System: Coastal and Estuarine Environments" edited by the Ministry of the Environment (Climate Change and Quality Environmental Secretary) and based on PETROBRAS (2002)

This change in attitude was reflected in a large production of oil spill environmental sensitivity maps for the Brazilian coast (Araújo et al., 2006) (Table 2). These maps are produced in order to support environmental management and the elaboration and implementation of contingency plans. The ESI preparation was intensified through Decrees

Fig. 2. Main ports of the Brazilian coast (IBAMA, 2011).

give priority to prevention and mitigation activities.

and NOAA (2002).

4136/2002 and 4871/2003.


Remote Sensing and Environmental Sensitivity for Oil Spill in the Amazon, Brazil 319

High resolution images have mostly been used for operational ESI maps production in the states of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Norte using aerial photography and Ikonos. Visual interpretation, together with field data collection, has been the principal methodological procedure. Most areas have mangroves, conservation units and are surrounding by

The methodology, standards and technical specifications for determining coastal sensitivity follow Araújo et al. (2002). The principal steps for shoreline identification are: 1) Analysis of the available literature, aerial photographs, maps of the entire area; 2) Aerial reconnaissance of the entire area and selection of detailed study areas; 3) Mapping of major features in representative areas; 4) Collection of sediment from the intertidal zone and biologic floral and faunal groups samples; construction of beach topographic profile; 6) Analysis of the sediment sample sizes; 7) Data compilation and classification; and 8) Construction of

Colors are used indicate the ESI and symbols to the human and biological resources. Each number is represented by a color index. Two environments may occur at the same coastal segment; in that case, both colors of the separated lines should be displayed, one inside and the other outside. In the case of intertidal zones, for example, the intertidal plain should display colors according to the differences of sediment sizes to the high tidal line and the low tidal line. Table 3 compares ESI specification defined by the Ministry of the

> Exposed rocky shores; exposed rocky sedimentary cliffs; exposed solid man-made structures

Fine to medium grained sand in dissipative beaches; continuous and multiple beach strings; Scarps and steep slopes in sand;

Coarse-grained sand beaches; exposed; exposed fine to medium grained sand

intermediary beaches; sheltered fine- to medium- grained sand

Mixed sand and gravel beaches, coral reefs fragments; vegetated abrasion platform; sandy reefs

Exposed medium to high declivity rocky shores; exposed sandy substrate with medium

exposed dune field

declivity

beaches

Environment (MMA, 2002) with the original defined by NOAA (2002).

**number Color NOAA (2002) MMA (2002)** 

Exposed rocky shores and man-made structures; rocky cliffs with boulder

Fine to medium grained sand beaches; Scarps and steep slopes in sand;

Exposed wave-cut platforms in bedrock, scarps and steep slopes in

talus base

Tundra cliffs

4 Coarse-grained sand beaches

5 Mixed sand and gravel beaches

clay

intensive technological activities.

detailed sensitivity maps.

**ESI** 

1

2

3


Table 2. Principal studies of oil spill coastal sensitivity using remote sensing techniques in order to generate ESI maps in Brazil organized by date (Amazon Region are not included).

In Brazil, the ESI maps were also developed in a cartographic plan at strategic, tactical and operational scale for the role country. As an initial step, the tools of remote sensing and GIS are necessary to ESI maps construction and to comprehend differential spread of the technological risk for the country's coasts. Mostly moderate and high resolution images were used to produce these maps.

Moderate resolution images (e.g. RADARSAT-1 and Landsat TM/ETM/ETM+) and SRTM derived digital elevation models have been used to map the Brazilian coastal zone at strategic and tactical scales. Studying an oil spill emergency due to a pipeline rupture in Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro), Bentz and Miranda (2001) found that RADARSAT-1 provided suitable temporal coverage. Once cloud cover, haze and the eight-day revisit schedule (using both Landsat-5 and -7) prevented Landsat from being used systematically for oil spill monitoring. In the same case Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor was used to capture images after the oil spill emergency where a pipeline ruptured (Bentz & Miranda, 2001).

Carvalho & Gherardi (2008) used Landsat 7 ETM+ images to generate land use and land cover maps, as well as ESI maps in Northeast Brazil, aiming for oil spill contingency planning and emergency responses. A fusion of multispectral and panchromatic ETM images via IHS (Intensity-Hue-Saturation) transformation was used. Then socioeconomic information was inserted using automated and visual image interpretation.

**Resolution Sensor Method Scale Case study (State)** 

Operational

Tactical

São Bento, Galinho Municipalities (Rio Grande do

Grande do Norte)

Northern coast (Rio Grande do Norte)

Paranaguá Estuary (Santa Catarina)

Operational Ponta Macau (Rio

Database development, geomorphology; hydrodynamic, waves energy, currents direction; slope and grain size of profile beach

Norte) High Aerial

Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Automatic classification, Visual interpretation, Field data collection

Database utilization; visual interpretation, Field data collection

Table 2. Principal studies of oil spill coastal sensitivity using remote sensing techniques in order to generate ESI maps in Brazil organized by date (Amazon Region are not included).

In Brazil, the ESI maps were also developed in a cartographic plan at strategic, tactical and operational scale for the role country. As an initial step, the tools of remote sensing and GIS are necessary to ESI maps construction and to comprehend differential spread of the technological risk for the country's coasts. Mostly moderate and high resolution images

Moderate resolution images (e.g. RADARSAT-1 and Landsat TM/ETM/ETM+) and SRTM derived digital elevation models have been used to map the Brazilian coastal zone at strategic and tactical scales. Studying an oil spill emergency due to a pipeline rupture in Guanabara Bay (Rio de Janeiro), Bentz and Miranda (2001) found that RADARSAT-1 provided suitable temporal coverage. Once cloud cover, haze and the eight-day revisit schedule (using both Landsat-5 and -7) prevented Landsat from being used systematically for oil spill monitoring. In the same case Thematic Mapper (TM) sensor was used to capture images after the oil spill emergency where a pipeline ruptured (Bentz & Miranda, 2001).

Carvalho & Gherardi (2008) used Landsat 7 ETM+ images to generate land use and land cover maps, as well as ESI maps in Northeast Brazil, aiming for oil spill contingency planning and emergency responses. A fusion of multispectral and panchromatic ETM images via IHS (Intensity-Hue-Saturation) transformation was used. Then socioeconomic

information was inserted using automated and visual image interpretation.

digital processing Operational

**Author Spatial** 

Moderate

Moderate

Moderate

were used to produce these maps.

Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+

photography

Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+

photography

Landsat 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+, SPOT, Cbers-2

Moderate Landsat TM Database access,

High Aerial

High Ikonos

Castro et al. (2006)

Souto et al. (2006)

Souza, et al. (2005)

Noernberg & Lana (2002)

High resolution images have mostly been used for operational ESI maps production in the states of São Paulo and Rio Grande do Norte using aerial photography and Ikonos. Visual interpretation, together with field data collection, has been the principal methodological procedure. Most areas have mangroves, conservation units and are surrounding by intensive technological activities.

The methodology, standards and technical specifications for determining coastal sensitivity follow Araújo et al. (2002). The principal steps for shoreline identification are: 1) Analysis of the available literature, aerial photographs, maps of the entire area; 2) Aerial reconnaissance of the entire area and selection of detailed study areas; 3) Mapping of major features in representative areas; 4) Collection of sediment from the intertidal zone and biologic floral and faunal groups samples; construction of beach topographic profile; 6) Analysis of the sediment sample sizes; 7) Data compilation and classification; and 8) Construction of detailed sensitivity maps.

Colors are used indicate the ESI and symbols to the human and biological resources. Each number is represented by a color index. Two environments may occur at the same coastal segment; in that case, both colors of the separated lines should be displayed, one inside and the other outside. In the case of intertidal zones, for example, the intertidal plain should display colors according to the differences of sediment sizes to the high tidal line and the low tidal line. Table 3 compares ESI specification defined by the Ministry of the Environment (MMA, 2002) with the original defined by NOAA (2002).


Remote Sensing and Environmental Sensitivity for Oil Spill in the Amazon, Brazil 321

intensively identified in "Lago Piratuba biological reserve" (Amapá); "Soure extractive reserve" (Pará) and "Ilha dos Caranguejos Environmental Protection Area" (Maranhão). According to Souza Filho et al., (2009a) these conservation units work as control areas, given both their well-preserved conditions and their proximity to transportation routes due to

Fig. 3. Principal ports and environmental protected areas in the Amazon coast (source:

"Elaboration of ESI maps for Pará-Maranhão and Barreirinhas basin" (2012 until 2014).

The PIATAM MAR project was implemented in Northern Brazil and was led by the Federal University of Pará, the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and PETROBRAS. The general aims proposed are: the consolidation of a multidisciplinary researcher's network that are active in the Amazonian coastal zone; the development of technological tools and infrastructure to support local monitoring and environmental management; and ESI maps

Oil spills are a potential risk around these port areas which can affect the environment, human population infrastructure and livelihood, resulting from the transportation process, as well as tank cleaning and oil storage procedures within the area of the port (Noernberg & Lana, 2002). To comprehend the oil impact, it is necessary to analyze the coastal Amazonian environment as a whole. PETROBRAS established and financed nine projects to deal with this subject, among them, the "Environmental Sensitivity Map to Oil Spill in Guajará Bay (PA)" (2001 – 2003), the "JERS-1, RADARSAT-1 and ALOS/PALSAR application in monitoring and mapping Amazon coastal environments: an approach for multi-temporal environmental sensitivity maps to oil spill" (2004 - 2006), PIATAM MAR (2004 - 2010) and currently

Souza Filho et al., 2009a).

construction (Souza Filho et al., 2009a).

proximity to protected areas along the ports mentioned above (Figure 3).


Table 3. ESI comparison between NOAA (2002) and Ministry of the Environment (MMA, 2002) classification.
