ABSTRACT
Water losses from water distribution means have a high environmental impact in terms of natural resource depletion (water, energy, ecosystems). This work aims to develop an optical airborne surveillance service for the detection of water leaks (WADI-Water-tightness Airborne Detection Implementation) to provide water utilities with adequate and timely information on leaks in water transportation mains outside urban areas. Firstly, a series of measurement campaigns were performed with two hyperspectral cameras and a thermal infrared camera in order to select the most appropriate wavelengths and combinations thereof for best revealing high moisture areas, which are taken as a proxy for water leakage. The Temperature-Vegetation-Index method (T-VI, also known as Triangle/Trapezoid method) was found to provide the highest contrast-to-noise ratio. This preliminary work helped select the most appropriate onboard instrumentation for two types of aerial platforms, manned (MAV) and unmanned (UAV). Afterwards, a series of measurement campaigns were performed from 2017 to 2019 in an operational environment over two water distribution networks in France and Portugal. Artificial leaks were introduced and both remote sensing platforms successfully detected them when excluding the unfavorable situations of a recent rain event or high vegetation presence. With the most recent equipment configuration, known and unknown real leaks in the overflown part of a water transportation network in Portugal have been detected. A significant number of false alarms were also observed which were due either to natural water flows (groundwater exfiltration, irrigation runoff and ponds) or to vegetation-cover variability nearby water-distribution nodes. Close interaction with the water utilities, and ancillary information like topographic factors (e.g., slope orientation), are expected to reduce the false alarm rates and improve WADI's methodology performance.
Subject(s)
Groundwater , Remote Sensing Technology , Ecosystem , Environment , WaterABSTRACT
Resumo: Introdução: A necessidade de levar informação visando combater a Covid-19 é ainda mais urgente nas regiões em desenvolvimento, uma vez que nesses locais há carência de recursos, supervisão governamental limitada, consideráveis índices de pobreza e dificuldade de acesso à informação. Com base na realidade da Transamazônica e do Xingu e na urgente necessidade da diminuição do número de casos da Covid-19 na região, a qual depende da adesão da população às medidas preventivas, surgiu o projeto de extensão "e-COVID Xingu: Mídias Sociais e Informação no Combate à COVID-19 em Altamira, Pará". Este trabalho tem como objetivo descrever as experiências dos integrantes desse projeto durante a pandemia na região. Relato de Experiência: O projeto adotou como público-alvo a população do Xingu, em especial as comunidades indígenas e rurais. Publicações nas redes sociais levaram informações sobre medidas de prevenção, grupos de risco e isolamento social. Para alcançar as populações mais vulneráveis e que não possuem acesso à internet, uma parceria com a rádio local levou material informativo para a zona rural e comunidades indígenas afastadas. O projeto também lançou uma cartilha, em português e kayapó, com orientações de prevenção da Covid-19 para os indígenas do Médio Xingu. Discussão: Os informativos conseguiram bom alcance pelas redes sociais. Ademais, os meios de comunicação em massa, como o rádio, ainda se mostram eficazes na disseminação de informações. Com multiplataformas pode-se fazer educação em saúde inclusiva a diversos grupos sociais, seja pela internet, pelo rádio ou por materiais físicos. Conclusão: Utilizando múltiplas ferramentas de comunicação e respeitando o distanciamento social, a universidade, por meio de ação extensionista, pôde contribuir no combate à Covid-19, ao levar informações e conhecimento ao público, e atentar à necessidade de também incluir e informar populações histórica, social e economicamente vulneráveis, como indígenas e comunidade rurais do Xingu.
Abstract: Introduction: The need to provide information in the fight against COVID-19 is more urgent in developing regions, which suffer from insufficient resources, limited government supervision, high poverty rates and difficulty in accessing information. Considering the reality experienced by those living by the Transamazonian Highway and the Xingu River and the urgent need to reduce COVID-19 cases in the region, which depends on the population taking prevention measures, this community outreach project called "e-COVID Xingu: Social media and information against COVID-19 in Altamira, Pará" took shape. This article aims to describe the experiences of the project members in the initial months of the outreach project during the pandemic in the region. Experience Report: The project's audience target was the population of the Xingu region, especially indigenous communities and those living in rural areas. While posts on social media spread information about prevention, risk groups and social isolation, in order to reach the most vulnerable people, who lack an internet connection, a partnership with a local TV and radio broadcaster provided important information to these remote indigenous villages and rural communities. Moreover, an informative booklet with guidance on how to prevent infection by COVID-19 was released in both Portuguese and the Kayapo language to raise awareness and understanding among Xingu indigenous communities. Discussion: The posts on social media achieved a good reach in social media. Furthermore, mass media, like radio, remain efficient information disseminators. The use of multiple tools is one possible way to educate diverse social groups, including the use of the internet, the radio or printed materials. Conclusion: Using different communication platforms and respecting social distancing, the university, through this community outreach project, was able to contribute to the fight against COVID-19, spreading accurate and safe information and considering the need to include historically, socially and economically vulnerable population groups such as the indigenous and rural Xingu communities.
ABSTRACT
A flexible 2D/3D oil spill modeling system addressing the distinct nature of the surface and water column fluids, major oil weathering and improved retention/reposition processes in coastal zones is presented. The system integrates hydrodynamic, transport and oil weathering modules, which can be combined to offer different-complexity descriptions as required by applications across the river-to-ocean continuum. Features include accounting for different composition and reology in the surface and water column mixtures, as well as spreading, evaporation, water-in-oil emulsification, shoreline retention, dispersion and dissolution. The use of unstructured grids provides flexibility and efficiency in handling spills in complex geometries and across scales. The use of high-order Eulerian-Lagrangian methods allows for computational efficiency and for handling key processes in ways consistent with their distinct mathematical nature and time scales. The modeling system is tested through a suite of synthetic, laboratory and realistic-domain benchmarks, which demonstrate robust handling of key processes and of 2D/3D couplings. The application of the modeling system to a spill scenario at the entrance of a port in a coastal lagoon illustrates the power of the approach to represent spills that occur in coastal regions with complex boundaries and bathymetry.
