Space Technology and Environmental Monitoring in Brazil.

• Author: Krug, Thelma

Brazil encompasses the fifth largest territory in the world and possesses the largest tropical forest on earth. Yet these attributes have not come without a cost: the country faces a diversity of environmental problems that could have irreversible, negative consequences for both its ecology and its people. To address these problems, the Brazilian Government has led the way in developing a space technology program to monitor the environment and it has used data from remote sensing satellites for diverse applications of critical importance to both national and international policymakers.

Space technology has been used to study environmentally damaging phenomena, such as deforestation and biomass burning, that contribute significantly to global warming and biodiversity loss. Thanks to satellite data, the Brazilian Institute for Space Research (INPE) is able to conduct annual assessments of gross deforestation and accurately estimate the annual rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazonia. This information has allowed the Brazilian Government to monitor deforestation resulting from logging, fuelwood use and shifting cultivation, as well as to adopt effective measures to reduce the problem.

The most recent example of such information usage relates to the evaluation of the relationship between greenhouse gas emissions and climate change at the World Climate Convention in Kyoto. The Conference aimed at negotiating a Protocol to assign relative responsibilities to developed countries classified as "Annex I Parties," defined during the 1995 First Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in Berlin. At that time, non-Annex I Parties--including Brazil--agreed to advance on already existing but non-binding commitments.

The energy sector is one of the greatest contributors to [CO.sub.2] emissions, namely the burning of petrol, gas and coal. Brazil falls far behind the United States and China, the first and second leading greenhouse gas producers, respectively. According to recent estimates, Brazil's energy sector emits some 60 million tons of [CO.sub.2] per year, whereas the United States emits 1.5 billion tons, followed by China at 800 million.(1) However, the Brazilian contribution to [CO.sub.2] emissions from land use, including forest clearing, biomass burning and logging, is still unknown. Brazil's Ministry of Science and Technology is presently conducting a study to compile a national inventory of net greenhouse gas emissions that is expected to become available in the next two years. Current data make it clear that Brazil's environmental challenges are significant, and decisive action is needed to meet them.

In this paper, I argue that many of Brazil's most pressing environmental concerns can only be addressed using space technology. I will describe Brazil's space technology program as well as endeavors to use satellite data in support of environmental projects, such as deforestation and biomass burning. Considering the importance of the Amazonia region to the global ecosystem--with its abundance of natural resources--I will devote special attention to space technology projects currently underway in the region and the government policies aimed at ensuring sustainable development in the Amazonia and throughout Brazil.

BRAZIL'S SPACE PROGRAM

The relevance of remote sensing to economic and social development has been identified by many countries, particularly those with large land masses or coastal regions, such as China, Thailand and India. The latter, for example, has used a space program comprised of a satellite and a ground station to improve special farming and agriculture, which has greatly benefited national development.

Brazil was one of the first developing countries to engage in space technologies in an institutionalized fashion, creating government organizations dedicated to space in the early 1960s. The Institute for Space Activities, today called the Institute of Aeronautics and Space (IAE),(2) was created in 1969 to develop the capacity necessary to design and build rockets and satellite launchers. In the early 1970s, the Ministry of Science and Technology's National Institute for Space Research (INPE)(3) evolved from the National Committee of Space Activities. INPE's activities initially involved research in space and atmospheric science, but have grown to encompass new space applications, such as remote sensing and meteorology, as well as the development of satellites and associated ground systems.

In 1971, the Brazilian Committee for Space Activities (COBAE)(4) was created to manage space activities. Other institutions dedicated to space activities in Brazil include the Barreira do Inferno Launching Center, created in 1965 in Natal, Rio Grande do Norte State, and the Alcantara Launching Center in Alcantara, Maranhao State. Beginning in 1979, a new initiative was given to the Brazilian space sector with the establishment of the Brazilian Complete Space Mission (MEC-B),(5) the country's first long-term space program.

MEC-B was initially aimed at developing four small application satellites, two for data collection and two for remote sensing, as well as the necessary support infrastructure. The program started with ample international cooperation toward technological assistance. However, by the mid-1980s it was facing significant difficulties due to policies that restricted the exportation of "dual-use" technologies--those that could have been used for military purposes--in order to control nuclear proliferation.

In the early 1990s, a new institution was created to play a more proactive role than COBAE, while unequivocally establishing the pacific character of Brazilian space activities. The Brazilian Space Agency (AEB)(6) was created in 1994 by the President of Brazil to replace COBAE.

In February 1993, four years behind schedule, the first data collection satellite, SCD-1, was successfully launched on a Pegasus rocket from Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, by Orbital Sciences Corporation. The satellite collects meteorological and environmental data and retransmits them in real-time to as many as 500 remote autonomous data collection platforms or ground stations.(7) Meteorological data have thus been collected from remote areas in Brazil, including the Amazonia region, providing important environmental information on Brazilian territory Several institutions make use of the data collected by SCD-1 for different purposes. At INPE, the data provide important information for models used in meteorological and climatological forecasting.

The largest network of data collection platforms in Brazil, comprising approximately 225 units, was jointly established by INPE and the National Department of Water and Electricity (DNAEE).(8) The network constitutes a significant improvement over DNAEE's traditional data collection system, since it ensures greater reliability, a higher frequency of data acquisition and greater capacity to monitor remote areas in the Amazonia. This data is vital to DNAEE's efforts to monitor Brazil's river basins and hydrological resources, and to better manage hydroelectric power generation throughout the country.(9)

Although the SCD-1 has surpassed its expected one-year lifetime, it will soon be replaced by a second generation satellite, the SCD-2. Unfortunately, an attempt to launch a replica of SCD-2 (SCD-2A) on the Brazilian Launching Vehicle (VLS-1) was aborted on 2 November 1997 due to engine failure. The launching of SCD-2 on a Pegasus rocket is now planned for 1998.(10)

Despite its importance to Brazil, the data collection satellites have a limited capability to provide the type of information necessary to monitor the country's natural resources. Considering the relevance of the Amazon region worldwide, INPE re-evaluated the specifications for the MEC-B remote sensing satellite in 1995, emerging with the concept of a low equatorial orbit satellite that will provide full coverage of the Amazon region every 105 minutes.(11) Scheduled to be launched in 2000, the SSR-1 will use a camera operating in visible and infrared spectral bands with spatial resolutions ranging from 100 meters at the equator and 200 meters at 15 degrees south, covering an extension on the ground that is 2,200 kilometers wide. The greatest improvement of SSR-1 is in its transmission mode, which will allow the decentralization of the data distribution to several low-cost receiving stations. The receiving stations will be able to receive, process and analyze data within a radius of approximately 500 kilometers. All the data acquired by SSR-1 will also be transmitted to a central station in Cuiaba, Mato Grosso State.

The high revisit frequency of the SSR and its spatial resolution of one to four hectares will be useful for several applications that are presently restricted by cloud cover that is currently preventing the assessment of many areas of the Amazonia with good spatial resolution. The SSR will generate four to five images daily whose mosaicking may completely eliminate...