375 Borlaug Hall and via Zoom
Abstract
Brazilian territory holds 12% of the world’s surface water and one of its main uses is the production of electrical energy. Hydroelectric power accounts for 70% of total supply of electricity in the country. Although it is considered as a clean energy source, hydroelectric facilities usually rely on the construction of artificial reservoirs which involves changes in the watershed including flooding of large areas, habitat connectivity loss and impacts on water quality. According to the Brazilian National Water Agency, hydroelectric facilities are responsible for monitoring water quality in these reservoirs, and this is usually done by in situ monitoring campaigns in limited sampling sites. Considering the large area occupied by these reservoirs, lack (and risk) of accessibility for sampling in some regions and costs associated to field campaigns, the use of aerial images has been investigated to provide for remote monitoring of water quality in these locations. Both remote sensing and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) may be used to acquire images for the development of methods to estimate optical water quality parameters such as turbidity, chlorophyll-a and solids. In this context, this seminar aims to (i) present the use of remote monitoring techniques for water quality monitoring in reservoirs, (ii) show advantages and limitations of using remote sensing and UAV for this purpose and (iii) to show learning, challenges and results of a project in this direction which is underway in Brazil.