Speakers

Andre Telles da Cunha Lima

BROIL

The BROIL research group had its start after the major oil spill that occurred on the Brazilian coast in 2019, research is directed towards modeling, remote sensing and preventive detection of oil and fuel transport accidents; it represents a scientific cooperation initiative between five (05) Brazilian and three (03) international institutions. They are the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA-BR), the Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE), the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), the National Institute for Space Research (INPE-SJC), Pontifical Catholic University (PUC-Rio), the Madeira Ocean Observatory (OOM-Portugal), the Institute of Research for Development – Laboratory for Studies in Geophysics and Spatial Oceanography (IRD/LEGOS-France) and the Institute of Coastal Research, Helmholtz-Zentrum Geesthacht (HZG-Germany), respectively.

The overall objective of this project is to investigate the advection-diffusion of surface and subsurface oil slicks and their weathering along the western edge of the Brazilian coast, with a focus on the Southwest Tropical Atlantic (ATSO), the region most affected by the 2019 incident.

The specific objectives are:

1. Build a database of radar and optical images of past ocean oil accident events;
   Analyze and compare the spectral responses of past images of regions known for oil spills (e.g., Deepwater Horizon in 2010) and “false positives” through statistical and mathematical models;
2. Develop an autonomous Radar Image Oil Spill Seeker (RIOSS) detection system with emergency warning broadcast in case of slick detection.
3. To investigate time series of images that represent the evolution of oil slicks on the surface to characterize the dynamics of degradation and fragmentation of the slicks from the evolution of its topological structure using fractal and multifractal tools;
   Simulate typical climatological hydrodynamic conditions (e.g., ocean currents and tides) using the ROMS model;
4. Compare and analyze the spatio-temporal distribution of physical, hydrodynamic (temperature, salinity, density, tides) and atmospheric forcing (wind, air temperature, evaporation-precipitation balance) properties
5. Simulating potential sites and quantity of spilled oil to evaluate the influence of physical processes (advective-diffusive transport, tides, thermohaline structure and ocean-atmosphere flows) on the formation, weathering, displacement and subsequent spreading of oil through a lagrangean mathematical model.

Andre Telles da Cunha Lima has a bachelor’s degree in Physics from the University of São Paulo (1997), a master’s degree in Physics from the State University of Rio de Janeiro (2000) and a doctorate in Physics from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (2005). He is currently an Associate Professor at the Physics Institute of the Federal University of Bahia, working in the Undergraduate Physics and Engineering courses; at the Postgraduate Course at CIEnAm/UFBA (Interdisciplinary Center for Energy and Environment) and at the Postgraduate Course of Computational Modeling and Industrial Technology at SENAI/CIMATEC. As a researcher in Physics, Geophysics and Environment, he works in projects of: Computational Fluid Dynamics (turbulence and vorticity transport), Ocean Engineering (fluid-structure interaction), Numerical Simulations in Porous Media (water and hydrocarbon reservoirs) and Modeling and Monitoring of oil slicks and contaminants in the ocean.

Carina Böck

Projeto Baía Viva

The Baía Viva Project has as main goal the development of an operational digital platform for the provision of environmental, social and economic information in and around the Guanabara Bay region. The diagnostic and prognostic information generated comes from different sources, such as: historical databases, in situ and remote data acquisition platforms and numerical computational models.

Carina S. Böck holds a degree in Oceanography from the University of Rio de Janeiro State, a Master degree in Civil Engineering in the area of Petroleum Systems from the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute of Graduate Studies and Engineering Research (COPPE) at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), and PhD degree in Civil Engineering at COPPE/UFRJ. She is a researcher at the Laboratory of Computational Methods in Engineering (LAMCE) from COPPE/UFRJ. She acts mainly in Physical Oceanography, focusing on computational modeling, oceanic climate variability, climate change, and analysis of meteorological and oceanographic data.

Paulo Nobre

Brazilian Earth System Model (BESM)

The development of the Brazilian Earth System Model (BESM) infrastructure is an initiative of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Information – MCTI of Brazil, aimed at contributing to the global effort to study and predict global and regional climate variability and change. BESM is composed of the fully coupling of the Brazilian global Atmospheric Model – BAM to NOAA/GFDL Modular Ocean Model – MOM6 via GFDL’s FMS coupler. It counts with the land models SSiB and IBIS, marine ice model is SIS2 and ocean biogeochemistry.

Paulo Nobre has a BS in Meteorology from the University of São Paulo – USP (1980), a M.Sc. form the Brazilian National Institute for Space Research – INPE (1984), a Ph.D. in Meteorology by the University of Maryland (1993), and a Postdoc on Oceanography at Columbia University, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory (1999). Paulo Nobre was the former Coordinator of the Brazilian Network for Climate Change Research – Rede CLIMA. Currently, he is the Brazilian Coordinator of the Brazil-France-US PIRATA Project, the coordinator of the development of the Brazilian Earth System Model – BESM and he teaches at INPE Graduate Program on Meteorology, course on Coupled Ocean-Atmophere modeling.

Guilherme Franz

Brazilian Sea Observatory (BSO)

The Brazilian Sea Observatory (BSO) includes high-resolution operational models for the Brazilian coast and a WebGIS platform aiming to integrate forecast results, in situ measurements, satellite data, vessel positions, and an on-demand tool to predict the drift of oil spills.

PhD in Environmental Engineering with an emphasis on numerical modeling of coastal systems (IST – Universidade de Lisboa – Portugal) – Postdoctoral Researcher at the Center for Marine Studies (UFPR – Brazil) – Technical coordinator of the Brazilian Sea Observatory (BSO).

Julio Pellegrini

Projeto Costa Norte: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Assessing Mangrove Forests Vulnerability to Oil Spill in the Northern Brazilian Coast

Costa Norte Project is an R&D project that focuses on the coastal region of Pará-Maranhão and Foz do Amazonas Basins, in the Brazilian Equatorial Margin. The main objective is to develop methodologies to improve the understanding of mesoscale, coastal and estuarine processes and of the vulnerability of mangrove forests to oil spills. The region – highly preserved – is marked by unique biological richness associated with a set of highly energetic environmental forcings. In this complex system, several factors stand out: the largest continuous strip of mangrove forest in the world, the Amazon River outflow, macro-tides, equatorial trade-winds, a strong western boundary current and a complex coastal morphology with many estuarine indents and floodplain areas. The project´s institutional and scientific designs were based in the belief that the more interdisciplinary the approach, the greater the probability of developing innovative and useful methodologies to advance the understanding – and assisting the management – of any social-environmental issues.

Costa Norte involves three academic institutions and an oceanographic company working on four distinct and complementary modules: Oceanographic Observations (estuarine and mesoscale); Remote Sensing (LiDAR and satellite), Numerical Modeling (atmospheric, hydrodynamic and oil dispersion) and Mangrove Phytosociology. Organized in an upward cascade of complexity, distinct disciplines compose modules of interdisciplinary methodologies toward a multi-scale approach to assess the mangrove vulnerability to oil spills. Costa Norte is funded with R&D resources from the Brazilian National Petroleum Agency (ANP), via Enauta company.

Julio Pellegrini, oceanographer, Doctor in Sciences by the State University of Rio de Janeiro. Acting as a consultant for over 20 years, since 2018, he has held the role of General Director at the environmental consulting company Prooceano. He has worked on several environmental studies and projects related to Oil & Gas activities. Recently he coordinated the Costa Norte Project, a multi and interdisciplinary R&D initiative focused on the Vulnerability Assessment of Mangroves in the Pará-Maranhão and Foz do Amazonas Basins, Brazilian Equatorial Margin, to Oil Spills..

Alexander Turra

Network for Monitoring Benthic Coastal Habitats (ReBentos)

The Network for Monitoring Benthic Coastal Habitats (ReBentos) was created to detect the effects of regional and global environmental changes on benthic habitats, by creating a time-series of data on biodiversity along the Brazilian coast. ReBentos is linked to the Coastal Zones Branch of the Climate Network, hosted by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The network was supported by the National Counsel of Technological and Scientific Development (CNPq), São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), and Coordination for the Improvement of Higher-Education Personnel (CAPES). Currently, ReBentos comprises 166 active researchers along the entire Brazilian coast, belonging to 57 educational/research institutions, both national and international, and 17 coastal states.The strategy adopted by ReBentos was to define standardized methods for biodiversity sampling, processing and data analysis, and for measuring abiotic and anthropogenic factors. The free-access e-book Protocolos para o Monitoramento de Habitats Bentônicos Costeiros (in English: Protocols for Monitoring Benthic Coastal Habitats) recommends simple, rapid and low-cost methods for continuous and long-term monitoring in the diferente benthic habitats along the Brazilian coast. Based on this monitoring effort, an inventory will be assembled to increase knowledge of marine biodiversity along the Brazilian coast and to allow understanding of possible changes in the biota due to natural and/or anthropogenic events, within the context of Global Environmental Changes.

Alexander Turra is a Professor at the Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo (IO-USP) and coordinator of the UNESCO Chair on Ocean Sustainability, based at the Oceanographic Institute and the Institute of Advanced Studies at the USP. Biologist with a master’s and PhD in Ecology from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) interested in interdisciplinary and integrated scientific approaches, focusing on themes such as marine biodiversity, governance, integrated management, marine conservation and environmental impact, climate change and marine pollution (marine litter).

Carlos Leandro

CRONOS Platform: Acquisition and Integration of Metocean Data

BS in Oceanography, UERJ – Rio de Janeiro State University; M.Sc. in Remote Sensing Applied to Oceanography, Brazilian National Institute for Space Research (INPE); “Specialization Air Sea Transfer Process”,University of Washington, Seattle, WA – USA; “Dynamic Oceanography for the World Ocean Circulation Experiment”, specialization course taught at the Institute of the University of São Paulo; and MBA in Marketing – IBMEC Business School – Rio de Janeiro. PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE: University-level specialist with the Hydrobiology Laboratory of the Federal University of Maranhão (1983 -1984); Between 1989 and 1996 worked as an employee in the Remote Sensing Division (DSR) of INPE; From 1997 to 2003: CEO of Oceansat – Space Technology for Environmental Monitoring S/C Ltda.; Marketing Director of OceansatPEG S.A – January of 2003 until September 2005; Between 2006 and 2018 was partner director of AMBIPETRO – Survey and Innovation; and Currently coordinating the CRONOS project, which is a platform that integrates meteo-oceanographic data from different sources at OceanPact Maritime Services S.A.

Janini Pereira

The Oceanographic Modelling and Observation Network (REMO): Past, Present and Future developments

The Oceanographic Modelling and Observation Network (REMO, in the Portuguese acronym) focus on the scientific and technological development of operational oceanography in Brazil, considering both numerical forecasts and hindcasts with data assimilation, and observational systems in the South Atlantic and regions along the Brazilian continental margin. REMO was created in 2007 by researchers from different institutions in Brazil. In 2010, full membership was granted in the GODAE OceanView (nowadays named OceanPredict) . An ocean forecast system supported by REMO was operationally implemented in the Brazilian Navy Hydrography Center (CHM) in January 2010, producing 5-day forecasts for an extensive area in the south Atlantic and the Brazilian coast. Publications related to REMO are available here.

Prof Janini Pereira has a PhD in Physical Oceanography from IOUSP (Oceanographic Institute of the University of São Paulo), Brazil. She is a Professor at the Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). She is a REMO’s member since 2008. Her main research has been on Meso and Large Scale Ocean Circulation, Numerical Modeling and Operational Ocean Forecasting System.

Luiz Paulo Assad

Projeto Azul

The Project Ocean Observation System for the Santos Basin, also known as the AZUL project, has as its main objective the development, improvement and maintenance of an ocean observation system for the Santos Basin region based on the application of computational ocean modeling techniques and acquisition of real-time oceanographic data. Such data are acquired from a collection program, based on low carbon technologies, and applied continuously and systematically using autonomous underwater and surface vehicles, drifters, profilers, moorings, and remote sensing. The data collected and forecasts developed are made available in real-time on a developed digital platform that allows free access to the data and information generated. Started in August 2012 and financially supported by SHELL, the project had two phases of development and is preparing to start the third phase by investing in the development of artificial intelligence tools, increasing the observational effort, and increasing the spatial detail of the oceanographic forecasts carried out. The developments to be carried out will seek to meet the different demands of the Oil and gas industry, such as environmental monitoring, offshore operations and logistics, and renewable energy transition. The execution of the AZUL project is done by a partnership between the Laboratory of Computational Methods in Engineering (LAMCE) of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the oceanographic consulting company PROOCEANO.

Luiz Paulo Assad has a degree in Oceanography from the State University of Rio de Janeiro, a master’s degree in Physical Oceanography from the University of São Paulo and a doctorate in Civil Engineering from the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute of Graduate Studies and Engineering Research. He is currently an adjunct professor in the Department of Meteorology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and also a permanent professor in the Graduate Program in Meteorology of that department. Researcher and technical coordinator of the Environmental Modeling Nucleus of the Laboratory of Computational Methods in Engineering (LAMCE/COPPE) that represents the Rio de Janeiro AIR Centre Office. He is also a collaborating professor in the Civil Engineering Program at COPPE. He has experience in the field of Physical Oceanography, with an emphasis on oceanic computational modelling, acting mainly on the following themes: global and regional oceanic computational modelling, ocean-atmosphere interaction processes, oil dispersion modelling at the sea and analysis of environmental data.

Marcello Rollnic

Amazon Coastal Observatory (OCA)

The the Amazon Coastal Observatory (OCA) aims to generate and share metoceanographic and social data on the Amazon Coastal Zone and Tropical Atlantic, to systematize the information available in the Amazon region. The initiative seeks to encourage ocean culture through a joint and integrated approach of the environmental, scientific, and social sectors that can promote monitoring that assists in the efficient use of resources and sustainable development in the Amazon and Tropical Atlantic region..

Marcelo Rollnic is a professor at the Federal University of Pará, where he coordinates the research group on Marine Environmental Monitoring. He has experience in data acquisition, oceanographic database and numerical modelling in the Amazon Coastal Zone as well as interactions with socioeconomic activities.

Letícia Cotrim

Brazilian Ocean Acidification Network (BrOA)

The Brazilian Research Network on Ocean Acidification (BrOA) was created in December 2012, during the Workshop “Studying Ocean Acidification and its effects on marine ecosystems”, organized by the international geosphere-biosphere program (IGBP), University of São Paulo (USP), Brazilian Scientific Research and Development Council (CNPq) and National Institute for Space Research (INPE). The group’s short-term objective is to integrate Brazilian researchers into a broad national network of interdisciplinary cooperation in Ocean Acidification studies, in addition to contributing to ongoing international programs (e.g. LAOCA, GOA-ON). The group operates in different environments along the Brazilian coast, from coastal and estuarine ecosystems to the open water oceanic regime (contact email: broa@furg.br).

Letícia graduated in Oceanography at UERJ (1993). She has a M.Sc. in Geochemistry at UFF (1996) and a Ph.D. in Oceanology at Université de Perpignan (France, 2000). She is Adjunct Professor at the Faculty of Oceanography at UERJ, working in the area of ​​ocean acidification and marine biogeochemistry. Letícia is the WGI Lead Author of the Sixth Communication of the IPCC (AR6), co-leader of the Brazilian Research Group on Ocean Acidification (BrOA) and of the Oceans sub-network of Rede Clima. She is a member of the scientific committee of the PIRATE project (Prediction and Research Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic), representative in Brazil of the SOLAS program (Surface Ocean Lower Atmosphere Study – www.solas-int.org) and member of the reference group of the GLODAP project (Global Ocean Data Analysis Project). Letícia was awarded with a PROCIÊNCIA / UERJ Scholarship in the 2018/2021 triennium. She has a daughter (born in 2008) and she is a self-taught photographer and supports the cause of women in science.

Luis H.P. Garbossa

Santa Catarina Tide Gauge Network (SCTGN)

The Santa Catarina Tide Gauge Network (SCTGN) is maintained by Epagri (Company of Agricultural Research and Rural Extension of Santa Catarina) which aims to improve the Brazilian coastal observing systems in Santa Catarina. It obtains and distribute continuous time series of sea level and water temperature along the Santa Catarina Coast. We support several activities like aquaculture and fisheries, harbor operations, numerical modeling, and high frequency monitoring, improving the capabilities to understand the coastal environment. The first tide gauge was implemented in 2012 and today we have eleven tide gauges. The data collected is processed with a data quality control in Epagri servers and has more than 5 million records stored in the database. The SCTGN has supported several research and development projects along Santa Catarina coast over the years..

Luis H.P. Garbossa is a civil engineer with PhD in hydraulics and sanitation (University of São Paulo) and Postdoc on numerical modeling of coastal systems (IST – Universidade de Lisboa – Portugal). He works as researcher at Epagri focused on water quality for aquaculture using numerical models. He is part of the group that maintains the SCTGN.

Carlos A. E. Garcia

The Brazilian Costal Monitoring System (SiMCosta)

The Brazilian Costal Monitoring System (SiMCosta) aims to improve the Brazilian coastal observing systems by using advanced and integrated methodologies, which can obtain and distribute continuous temporal series of high-quality essential climate variables (ECVs), collected in several points along the coast. The SiMCosta seeks to detect long-term trends, improve the capability of predicting the effects of climate variability and climate changes and contribute with other national efforts of early warning systems for extreme events. The SiMCosta buoys provide on-line data of the following atmospheric and oceanic ECVs: air temperature, wind speed and direction, air humidity, precipitation rate, atmospheric pressure, surface solar irradiance, air CO2 concentration, sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, sea state (wave height and direction), current profile, chlorophyll and CDOM fluorescence, oxygen concentration, turbidity, pH and nitrate concentration. The SiMCosta data quality control structure follows the procedures adopted by the Quality Assurance of Time-series of Oceanographic Data – IOOS (Qartod). The tidal gauges measure sea surface level (radar) and the following atmospheric properties: temperature, wind speed and direction, air humidity, atmospheric pressure, precipitation rate and visibility. The sea level measured by the tidal stations will be referred to the high quality geodetic vertical datum maintained by the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE).

Carlos A. E. Garcia holds a BSc in Physics (State University of Campinas, Brazil) and MSc and PhD in Oceanography (University of Southampton, UK). He is a retired Professor of Physical Oceanography at the Institute of Oceanography at Federal University of Rio Grande (FURG), and a visiting professor at Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). He works on Physical Oceanography, with emphasis on polar oceanography, coastal oceanography, remote sensing of oceans, oceans and climate, ocean/coastal observing systems. He supervises graduate students at both FURG and UFSC. He was Rector of FURG in in the 1997-2000 period. In the past, he participated in the National Committee of Antarctic Research (CONAPA/Brazil), in the “Polder Science Team” da ESA and in the NASA “Ocean Colour Team. He also coordinated the Brazilian High Oceanography Group during 2003-2011 period, when dedicated to lead several multidisciplinary scientific projects in the Southern Ocean, South Atlantic Ocean and Southwestern Brazilian continental shelf waters. He coordinated the subnetwork Coastal Zone of REDE CLIMA and of INCT for Climate Changes from 2008 to 2013. He is member of the Director Council of the Brazilian Panel for Climate Changes. He coordinates the Brazilian Costal Monitoring System (SiMCosta) funded by the Brazilian Funding Agency for Climate Change and the Ministry of Science, Technology, Innovation and Communication. He reviews scientific articles for several international journals on oceanography, remote sensing of oceans and climate changes in oceans and coastal zones.

Janice Trotte-Duhá

Ms. Trotte-Duhá focuses on the strengthening of partnerships in Brazil. The strategic map of her activities is oriented to the search for innovative mechanisms that may contribute to strengthening research infrastructure devoted to oceanographic studies, leading to the reduction of knowledge gaps about the oceans, as well as contributing to the insertion of Brazil as a player in Blue Circular Economy in the South Atlantic.

She presently serves as Special Adviser to the Director General of Scientific, Nuclear and Technological Development of the Brazilian Navy, that is charged with the “Technical and Scientific Commission for the Advancement and Support to Monitoring activities and Neutralization of Impacts Arising from Marine Pollution by Oil and other Pollutants in the Blue Amazon (ComTecPolÓleo)”. The Commission aims to establish a mechanism of national articulation, in order to improve detection, prevention, formulation of timely “response actions”, as well as to contribute to mitigation, in face of environmental disasters by oil pollution and other pollutants, such as plastics, the latter, a matter of serious concern these days.

At the international scenario, she has contributed within the remit of the All-Atlantic Research Alliance to the design of the “Belém Declaration”, signed by the Governments of Brazil, the European Union and South Africa on 13 July 2017, with a view to improving cooperation in research and innovation in the Atlantic basin, from pole to pole.

Still at the international scenario, she was one of the “propellers” for the setting up and maintenance of the “Prediction and Researched Moored Array in the Tropical Atlantic (PIRATA)”, a project carried out by Brazil, France and the USA and globally recognized as an important source of perennial ocean observations for the Tropical Atlantic. The PIRATA project is also a fine example on how to cooperate to reach common scientific knowledge, with shared resources, and available to all nations interested in oceans and climate.

She has also served as Programme Manager for the Global Ocean Observing System (GOOS) at the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission IOC) of UNESCO, from 1997 to 2000; as GOOS Vice-Chair, from 1996-1997; and as Head of the IOC/UNESCO Regional GOOS Office in Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), from 2002 to 2009.

Moderator

Segen Estefen

Professor of Ocean Structures and Subsea Engineering at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ) – COPPE, where he is the General Manager of the Subsea Technology Laboratory and Coordinator of the Offshore Renewable Energy Group. Coordinating Lead Author of the Ocean Energy chapter of the IPCC Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (Cambridge Press, 2012). Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Advisory Board Member of the Ocean, Offshore and Arctic Engineering Division ASME. Fellow of the Society for Underwater Technology – UK. Member of the Brazilian Academy of Engineering. M.Sc. in Ocean Engineering from Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro – COPPE, Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Imperial College London, and has been a research fellow at the Institute of Marine Technology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology..