Remote sensing of intertidal morphological change in Morecambe Bay, U.K., between 1991 and 2007

Tidal Flats are important examples of extensive areas of natural environment that remain relatively unaffected by man. Monitoring of tidal flats is required for a variety of purposes. Remote sensing has become an established technique for the measurement of topography over tidal flats. A further requirement is to measure topographic changes in order to measure sediment budgets. To date there have been few attempts to make quantitative estimates of morphological change over tidal flat areas. This paper illustrates the use of remote sensing to measure quantitative and qualitative changes in the tidal flats of Morecambe Bay during the relatively long period 1991–2007. An understanding of the patterns of sediment transport within the Bay is of considerable interest for coastal management and defence purposes. Tidal asymmetry is considered to be the dominant cause of morphological change in the Bay, with the higher currents associated with the flood tide being the main agency moulding the channel system. Quantitative changes were measured by comparing a Digital Elevation Model (DEM) of the intertidal zone formed using the waterline technique applied to satellite Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) images from 1991–1994, to a second DEM constructed from airborne laser altimetry data acquired in 2005. Qualitative changes were studied using additional SAR images acquired since 2003. A significant movement of sediment from below Mean Sea Level (MSL) to above MSL was detected by comparing the two Digital Elevation Models, though the proportion of this change that could be ascribed to seasonal effects was not clear. Between 1991 and 2004 there was a migration of the Ulverston channel of the river Leven north-east by about 5 km, followed by the development of a straighter channel to the west, leaving the previous channel decoupled from the river. This is thought to be due to independent tidal and fluvial forcing mechanisms acting on the channel. The results demonstrate the effectiveness of remote sensing for measurement of long-term morphological change in tidal flat areas. An alternative use of waterlines as partial bathymetry for assimilation into a morphodynamic model of the coastal zone is also discussed.

The income requirements of marine protected areas

Given the growing impact of human activities on the sea, managers are increasingly turning to marine protected areas (MPAs) to protect marine habitats and species. Many MPAs have been unsuccessful, however, and lack of income has been identified as a primary reason for failure. In this study, data from a global survey of 79 MPAs in 36 countries were analysed and attempts made to construct predictive models to determine the income requirements of any given MPA. Statistical tests were used to uncover possible patterns and relationships in the data, with two basic approaches. In the first of these, an attempt was made to build an explanatory "bottom-up" model of the cost structures that might be required to pursue various management activities. This proved difficult in practice owing to the very broad range of applicable data, spanning many orders of magnitude. In the second approach, a "top-down" regression model was constructed using logarithms of the base data, in order to address the breadth of the data ranges. This approach suggested that MPA size and visitor numbers together explained 46% of the minimum income requirements (P < 0.001), with area being the slightly more influential factor. The significance of area to income requirements was of little surprise, given its profile in the literature. However, the relationship between visitors and income requirements might go some way to explaining why northern hemisphere MPAs with apparently high incomes still claim to be under-funded. The relationship between running costs and visitor numbers has important implications not only in determining a realistic level of funding for MPAs, but also in assessing from where funding might be obtained. Since a substantial proportion of the income of many MPAs appears to be utilized for amenity purposes, a case may be made for funds to be provided from the typically better resourced government social and educational budgets as well as environmental budgets. Similarly visitor fees, already an important source of funding for some MPAs, might have a broader role to play in how MPAs are financed in the future. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Avaliação ambiental de manguezais adjacentes aos campos petrolíferos de Macau e Serra (RN), como subsídio às medidas mitigadoras ao processo erosivo

Among the various effects caused by the climate change and human intervention, the mangrove ecosystem changes through of the years has been worth mentioning, which hasn t known which are the pros and cons for the adjacent coastal and estuarine environments yet. It happens due to the present dynamism in these areas, besides of the difficult understanding of the processes associated with evolution. This study aimed to environmentally evaluate adjacent mangroves from the Macau and Serra oil fields, located on Rio Grande do Norte northern coast, to support the mitigating actions related to the containment of the erosive process, as well as, according to the principles of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), to assess the amount of atmospheric carbon sequestered by the studied ecosystem. An inventory was conducted through mangrouve mapping which has supplied this research, especially regarding to the structural characterization of mangrove areas. To understand the local mangrove behavior in a greater level detail, techniques of remote sensing, GIS and GPS were used to make an analogy between the current and past states of the mangrove studied, allowing to make anticipated projections for the future impacts or changes in that region. This study combined data from multispectral LANDSAT 5 TM, Landsat 7 ETM+ with radar microwave data from SAR RADARSAT-1, which increased the interpretation capacity of the data from optical sensor systems. The interpretations have been supported by the data field, representing a better and innovative methodology for the environmental and taxonomic characterization of mangrove forests considered. The results reveal that mangroves of the Ponta do Tubarão Sustainable Development Reserve are biologically representative areas and providing a variety of benefits, especially for local communities, constituting the priority sites for actions development aimed at conservation. They also have been showing the necessity to make mitigating measures in order to recover degraded areas through reforestation or creating new areas of mangrove, as currently 7.1% of the mangrove forests studied are dead or in an advanced state of decomposition. The amount of atmospheric carbon sequestered proved very significant when analyzed for the whole area, which is able to sequester atmospheric 4,294,458 Ton CO2 per year

Análise de risco à erosão costeira na região de Tibau do Sul/RN através de mapeamento geoambiental e análise morfodinâmica

The research area is located on the county of Tibau do Sul, in the east coast of Rio Grande do Norte State, about 80km south of the capital Natal. The tourism represents the main income activity and Pipa beach is the most visited beach in the city, annually receives a large influx of domestic and foreign tourists. Some recent studies have reported the occurrence of coastal erosion in this littoral, being the main objective of the research, analyze the existing coastal erosion, through two methodologies, the geoenvironmental mapping and beach morphodynamics. The geoenvironmental mapping was done from oblique aerial photographs and field visits, which sought to carry out first the geomorphological mapping, with the purpose of analyzing features that suggest susceptible areas to erosion, as areas without protection of natural dunes, marine terraces, or sandstones (beach-rocks and ferruginous sandstones), areas with the presence of gullies and stretches where the sea-cliffs were in direct contact with the action of the sea, representing the beginning of the beach profile. In the morphodynamic study sought to carry out the survey of the physical and morphological characteristics, the analysis of sediment grain of the beaches and finally the analysis of the morphodynamic parameters to generate a table of risk to erosion by sector of the beach. The morphodynamic parameters were defined by the methodology proposed by Short (2006), in which considers different patterns of dynamism on beaches with characteristics favorable and unfavorable to erosive profiles. The maps indicated different levels of risk to the segments of the beaches analyzed, suggesting risk to erosion low and low to moderate only in areas north and northwest of the beaches of Madeiro and Curral, and levels of moderate and high risk sectors in the south and southeast of these beaches . The beach of Pipa showed moderate levels of risk and moderate to high at the ends and high risk to erosion in the central portion. The study of the coastal environment, its morphological evolution, and areas with problems of erosion, are of fundamental importance to assist coastal management policies, giving grants for planning activities undertaken in these regions

Experimento de fluxo de sedimentos em um segmento de campo de dunas eólicas costeiras de Jenipabu - Litoral oriental do Rio Grande do Norte.

This study analyzed measurements of the aeolian transport using vertical sand traps across the field dunes of Jenipabu, in the municipality of Extremoz, Rio Grande do Norte state to the North of Natal city. These measurements were used as parameters for the sand aeolian transport in the region. Before the field trips a map of landscape units was made. Three visits to the field were done in September 2011 (field a - the 13th, field b - the 21st, field c - the 29th), period of the year with the highest wind speed, and another in December 8th, 2011 (field d ) when the wind speed starts to decrease. The sand traps used were of the type "I" with collecting opening of 25 cm from the surface level, and type "S" with collecting opening of 25 cm located 25 cm from the surface level in six collecting points in two of the visits (fields a and d ), and sand traps of the type "T" with the collecting opening of 50 cm from the surface level in the other field trips (fields "b" and "c"). A set of records was also collected by using a portable meteorological station complemented with information such as frequency and intensity of winds, precipitation and relative air humidity in the region, from the Estação Meteorológica de Natal , located 12 km from the study area. The sediments collected were treated and the data obtained permitted calculating the ratio of sediment transport. In September, the sedimentation ratio varied from 0.01 to 11.39 kg.m-1.h-1 and in December this ratio varied from 0.33 to 1.30 kg.m-1.h-1 in the type T collectors. In type I collectors they ranged from 0.01 to 11.39 kg.m-1.h-1, while the same parameters varied from 0.01 to 0.73 kg.m-1.h-1 in type S collector. Based on the statistical analysis done, we concluded that the sediment transport increased proportionally to the wind speed 25 cm from the surface. However, this is not true above 25 cm from the surface. The transport of sediments is more intense near the surface where sedimentation ratios greater than 10 kg.m-1.h-1 were found, whilst a maximum value of 3 kg.m-1.h-1 was observed 25 cm below the surface. The volume of sediments collected increases with the increasing wind speed at the surface level, whereas this relationship is opposed far away from that surface

Modelling an expert GIS system based on knowledge to evaluate oil spill environmental sensitivity

Oil spills cause great damage to coastal habitats, especially when rapid and suitable response measures are not taken. Establishing high priority areas is fundamental for the operation of response teams. Under this context and considering the need for keeping all geographical information up-to-date for emergencial use, the present study proposes employing a decision tree coupled with a knowledge-based approach using GIS to assign oil sensitivity indices to Brazilian coastal habitats. The modelled system works based on rules set by the official standards of Brazilian Federal Environment Organ. We tested it on one of the littoral regions of Brazil where transportation of petroleum is most intense: the coast of the municipalities of Sao Sebastiao and Caraguatatuba in the northern littoral of São Paulo state, Brazil. The system automatically ranked the littoral sensitivity index of the study area habitats according to geographical conditions during summer and winter; since index ranks of some habitats varied between these seasons because of sediment alterations. The obtained results illustrate the great potential of the proposed system in generating ESI maps and in aiding response teams during emergency operations. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Mapping oil spill environmental sensitivity in cardoso island state park and surroundings areas, São Paulo, Brazil

This study presents an environmental oil spill sensitivity map of Cardoso Island State Park, located in São Paulo state, Brazil, including some of its surrounding areas. This map was designed following the procedures determined by the Brazilian Federal Environment Organ (Ministry of the Environment), which separates coastal habitats in different littoral sensitivity indexes (LSI) to oil spills. We have also analysed some seasonal variations in morphologic and textural parameters at the local marine beaches that could affect their sensitivity, having found that they are more sensitive during summer due to a wider foreshore zone during these periods. Local most sensitive habitats are estuarine mangroves (LSI 10) and estuarine mud banks (LSI 9). Marine beaches were ranked LSI 3, and littoral rocky shores were subdivided in exposed flat rocky shores (LSI 1), boulder rocky shores (LSI 6) and sheltered rocky shores (LSI 8). Due to the elevated sensitivity of an estuarine system in the area, we considered necessary the installation of an Environmental Emergency Centre and the design of an emergency plan for the region in case of an accident resulting in oil spills within its vicinities. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Densidade de Enterococcus sp em águas recreacionais e areias de praias do município de São Vicente-SP, Brasil e sua relação com parâmetros abióticos

Coastal cities attract a large number of tourists for their beautiful landscape and recreational activities, increasing the municipalities' income source. Thus, a need is clear for the establishment of beach quality monitoring programs to ensure bathers health. Although there is an effective monitoring program for recreational waters in Brazil there are no programs to certify the quality of beach sands. In this sense, the aim of this work was to analyze the density of bacteria from the genus Enterococcus in both sand and water from two beaches from São Vicente, São Paulo (Brazil) and correlate these densities to abiotic parameters such as: temperature, salinity, particle size, organic matter and tides). Water and sand samples were collected during February 2006 on the beaches of Gonzaguinha e Ilha Porchat and bacterial densities were determined by membrane filter technique. Temperature and salinity were measured in situ with a thermometer and a refractometer while particle size and organic matter were determined according to methods described by Suguio and Dean. There were significant differences between densities found in water and sand (p=0.004), being approximately 20 times higher in Gonzaguinha's beach sands. Similar results were found for Ilha Porchat beach samples, being the densities found in sand 3 times greater than those found in water. Both beaches showed a negative correlation between bacterial densities and salinity and temperature, suggesting a deleterious effect of these parameters on the bacterial community. On the other hand, no correlation was found between organic matter and particle size and bacterial densities. This work demonstrates that there is a great necessity for monitoring beach sand since the evaluation of beach quality is an important part of integrated coastal management programs.

Marine Protected Areas in Brazil: An ecological approach regarding the large marine ecosystems

The objective of this study was to address the importance of implementing Coastal and Marine Protected Areas in Brazil and to examine their distribution, based on the delimitation of Large Marine Ecosystems. Out of a total of 336 protected areas identified in Brazilian coastal and marine areas, the North Platform has the largest protected area, but the ecosystem with the largest number of protected area, predominantly sustainable areas, was the East Coast followed by the South Platform. One of the reasons the eastern coast of Brazil to have more protected areas is the fact that there is a largest amount of coral reefs. Additionally there was political opportunities for the creation of protected areas for sustainable use. The coastal region of Brazil has achieved the goal proposed by the Seventh Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity - 7, but only then through the category V of the International Union for Conservation of Nature, which is not the best efficient means of conserving resources. The goal for marine conservation shows only the area above the recommended under protection in North Platform. The Marine portion of the East Coast and the South Platform has few protected areas, regardless of category management. We consider the coastal region the range of 12 nautical miles from baselines determined in accordance with the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. As for the number of strategies permitted by law and used for the conservation of coastal and marine systems, coastal systems show a higher number when compared with the marine system. We suggest that the Brazilian government should specify strategies for the protection of marine systems and expand the protected areas of all Large Marine Ecosystems. © 2013 Elsevier Ltd.

Capacidade de carga recreacional, percepção dos usuários e qualidade da água em três praias turísticas da Costa amazônica

O capítulo I apresenta os aspectos que envolveram a pesquisa, como: definição da capacidade de carga recreacional, a importância dos estudos de qualidade das águas costeiras utilizadas para lazer, a opinião e percepção dos usuários de praia acerca da qualidade do meio ambiente e da infraestrutura e serviços disponíveis, bem como a importância destes estudos para planos de ordenamento do espaço costeiro. Alguns processos meteooceanográficos e a influência das atividades antrópicas no litoral amazônico foram também abordados. O capítulo II descreve sobre os usos recreacionais das praias de Ajuruteua, Atalaia e Princesa durante o mês de julho de 2009, mostrando os principais padrões da dinâmica recreacional das mesmas. Neste capítulo foram abordados e discutidos os tipos de usos recreacionais, o período de maior frequência de usuários e a capacidade de carga recreacional por zona estudada (zona subtidal, zona de intermarés e zona de bares e restaurantes). O capítulo III descreve as condições da qualidade da água utilizada para as atividades recreativas, a capacidade de carga recreacional e os padrões de usos espaciais nas três praias estudadas, comparando o mês de julho dos anos de 2009 e 2010. O capítulo IV descreve a percepção e a opinião dos usuários destas praias, acerca dos aspectos oceanográficos, paisagísticos e de saneamento; dos serviços e infraestrutura disponíveis; assim como do perfil social dos frequentadores. Este artigo está em fase de preparação e será submetido à revista Ocean and Coastal Management. O capítulo V aborda as conclusões gerais da dissertação de forma integradora. Em anexo está o artigo publicado no JCR, no formato original.

Política ambiental costeira: uma análise do seu impacto em Bragança-PA

Esta dissertação discorre sobre a política ambiental costeira, estruturada no Plano Nacional de Gerenciamento Costeiro - Lei Federal nº 7.661/88, ao alcance do município de Bragança/Pa. Mostra de que forma a intervenção do poder público na questão do uso dos recursos naturais e ocupação desordenada costeira consegue alterar a situação de degradação ambiental na costa bragantina. O objetivo maior foi analisar os impactos (quanto efeitos e produtos) dessa política em Bragança. Para isso, discutiu-se teoricamente sobre a estrutura de políticas públicas, descentralização político-administrativa, governança em múltiplos níveis e falhas de governo na gestão ambiental. Constatou-se que a gestão dos recursos naturais e territorial realizado na zona costeira brasileira, orientada pelo Programa GERCO, durante seus 20 anos de existência, é limitada e diferenciada nos estados e municípios litorâneos. Os resultados apontam avanços, insuficiências e equívocos na gestão costeira bragantina, pois, a própria forma organizativa desse Programa não é efetivamente integrada, descentralizada, participativa e coordenada; além dos ínfimos incentivos financeiros para a aplicação de seus instrumentos de planejamento e gestão.

Condições oceanográficas, ocupação territorial e problemas ambientais na praia do Atalaia (nordeste do Pará, Brasil)

A conservação e gestão da zona costeira da região amazônica merecem atenção especial, devido à riqueza de seus recursos naturais. O presente estudo visa avaliar os impactos dos eventos naturais e atividades humanas na praia de Atalaia, situada no estado do Pará (Brasil), e o desenvolvimento de diretrizes para a implementação de programas de gestão costeira. Os dados foram coletados entre novembro/2008 e novembro/2010. Quatro conjuntos de variáveis foram avaliados: (i) variáveis físicas (climatologia, hidrodinâmica e morfodinâmica), (ii) variáveis hidrológicas (temperatura da água, salinidade, pH, turbidez, oxigênio dissolvido e nutrientes inorgânicos dissolvidos, clorofila a e níveis de coliformes termotolerantes), (iii) desenvolvimento urbano e (iv) distribuição espacial de serviços e infraestrutura. Os resultados indicam que o clima e as condições hidrodinâmicas foram os principais fatores responsáveis pelas flutuações na qualidade de água, turbidez, oxigênio dissolvido, nutrientes inorgânicos dissolvidos e concentrações de clorofila a. A descarga de esgoto doméstico não tratado foi responsável pela contaminação bacteriológica, embora a rápida turbulência decorrente da alta energia hidrodinâmica do ambiente tenha limitado a contaminação por coliformes termotolerantes. Esta alta energia hidrodinâmica, principalmente durante as marés equinociais de sizígia e a falta de planejamento urbano gera outros problemas, tais como a erosão costeira. A área de estudo é caracterizada por altas taxas pluviométricas (> 1900 mm durante a estação chuvosa), ventos de NE com velocidades médias mensais superiores a 4,36 m/s na estação seca e 3,06 m/s na estação chuvosa, condições de macromaré (alcance da maré > 4,0 m), velocidades moderadas de correntes de maré (superior a 0,5 m/s) e alturas de ondas significantes superior a 1,5 m. Em março e junho (meses chuvosos), a corrente de maré vazante alcançou um máximo de 0,4 m/s. O ciclo de maré foi fracamente assimétrico com a maré vazante durando mais de 6 horas e 40 minutos. A energia das ondas foram fracamente moduladas pela maré baixa devido à atenuação das ondas em bancos de areia. A temperatura da água foi relativamente homogênea (27,4°C a 29,3°C). A salinidade variou de 5,7 (junho) a 37,4 (novembro). A água foi bem oxigenada (superior a 9,17 mg/L), turva (superior a 118 NTU), alcalina (acima de 8,68) e eutrófica (máximo de 2,36 μmol/L para nitrito, 24,34 μmol/L para nitrato, 0,6 μmol/L para fosfato e 329,7 μmol/L para silicato), além de apresentar altas concentrações de clorofila a (acima de 82 mg/m³). As condições naturais observadas no presente estudo indicam a necessidade de uma revisão dos critérios hidrológicos usados para avaliação de praias por agências nacionais e internacionais e sua adaptação para a realidade da costa amazônica. A falta de sistema de saneamento público levou a contaminação bacteriológica e a perda da qualidade da água. Com relação ao estado morfodinâmico, as condições dissipativas foram encontradas durante alta a moderada energia hidrodinâmica (condições equinociais e não-equinociais), porém em novembro as maiores alturas de ondas geraram características de barred dissipative, enquanto nos outros meses características nonbarred foram dominantes. Desta forma, o modelo proposto por Masselink & Short (1993) parece não ser ideal para ser aplicado em praias com características similares a praia de Atalaia, na qual a energia das ondas é modulada pela presença de bancos de areia durante algumas fases da maré.

A sensibilidade do lugar: uma proposta metodológica para aplicação da percepção ambiental nos planos de emergência a derrames de óleo

Pós-graduação em Geografia - IGCE

Propostas para a elaboração de plano de gestão para a praia de Macapá - Luis Correia - PI

Pós-graduação em Geografia - IGCE

Long-term effects of oil pollution in mangrove forests (Baixada Santista, Southeast Brazil) detected using a GIS-based multitemporal analysis of aerial photographs

Oil spills are potential threats to the integrity of highly productive coastal wetlands, such as mangrove forests. In October 1983, a mangrove area of nearly 300 ha located on the southeastern coast of Brazil was impacted by a 3.5 million liter crude oil spill released by a broken pipeline. In order to assess the long-term effects of oil pollution on mangrove vegetation, we carried out a GIS-based multitemporal analysis of aerial photographs of the years 1962, 1994, 2000 and 2003. Photointerpretation, visual classification, class quantification, ground-truth and vegetation structure data were combined to evaluate the oil impact. Before the spill, the mangroves exhibited a homogeneous canopy and well-developed stands. More than ten years after the spill, the mangrove vegetation exhibited three distinct zones reflecting the long-term effects of the oil pollution. The most impacted zone (10.5 ha) presented dead trees, exposed substrate and recovering stands with reduced structural development. We suggest that the distinct impact and recovery zones reflect the spatial variability of oil removal rates in the mangrove forest. This study identifies the multitemporal analysis of aerial photographs as a useful tool for assessing a system's capacity for recovery and monitoring the long-term residual effects of pollutants on vegetation dynamics, thus giving support to mangrove forest management and conservation.