My focus as a GIS intern at Iracambi has been the mining sites in the area. I have been collaborating with another student from Pomona College, who is looking at the social impacts of bauxite mining in the region. A couple of weeks ago we did an onsite investigation of active mining sites- taking GPS points and pictures of the mining activies. I was on the look out for the proximity of the mining sites to forests and water resources. The environmental regulations state that the mining must be more than 30 meters from streams and 50 meters from springs and the mining company must have proper permits for deforestation. I am currently preparing a presentation of this field work and I will be making another visit to the mining concession site again on Monday.
Here are some pictures from the field...
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Water Monitoring
Its the weekend at Iracambi!
I've been here in the rainforest since Wednesday. I have not been able to start my GIS project, the focus of my internship because the director of the NGO, Robin LeBrenton has been out of town. Still, I have been quite occupied here taking 1 to 3 hikes a day, doing a water monitoring project, cleaning up the tool shed, planting trees and just chilling out.
Most of the projects started at Iracambi are initiatives started by volunteers however volunteers are always in and out so there has been a struggle with continuity. The water monitoring project that we have been working on was started by a volunteer who worked for the EPA in Washington, as an initiative to encourage farmers to monetize maintaining their water resources. The project is meant to be recreated by schoolchildren as a monthly citizen science project. The instruments used are a bamboo stick with measurements etched into it, a flow meter, an orange, a timer, thermometer, and a sheet of paper to record the data. There are 10 water monitoring sites in total and they are chosen based on the land use. Sites are in the middle of a pasture, in the middle of a forested area, in a pasture next to a forested area, and in a forest next to pasture. We mark a 6 meter section of the stream and divide it into three transects. Measurements of width of the water and width of the growth in each of the transects indicate the amount of erosion that is occurring over time. Then we measure the depths in three parts for each transect.
Here is a picture of Nick, a volunteer from the UK measuring the depth with the bamboo.
Next we throw the orange into the water and time how long it takes for it to travel from the first transect, the top of the cross-section, to the third/last transect, the bottom of the cross-section. Next the flow measurements are taken at the middle transect in 3-10 subsections, based on the width of the transect.
Here is a picture of Abhajeet, the volunteer coordinator from India taking the flow measurements and some cows intruding in on our highly scientific process.
Lastly we record the temperature and enter the data into an excel spread sheet which calculates the discharges rates and enables comparison of different sites over time.
This is me recording the data on the bank.
Here are some of the different habitats that we have visited to do the water monitoring
I've been here in the rainforest since Wednesday. I have not been able to start my GIS project, the focus of my internship because the director of the NGO, Robin LeBrenton has been out of town. Still, I have been quite occupied here taking 1 to 3 hikes a day, doing a water monitoring project, cleaning up the tool shed, planting trees and just chilling out.
Most of the projects started at Iracambi are initiatives started by volunteers however volunteers are always in and out so there has been a struggle with continuity. The water monitoring project that we have been working on was started by a volunteer who worked for the EPA in Washington, as an initiative to encourage farmers to monetize maintaining their water resources. The project is meant to be recreated by schoolchildren as a monthly citizen science project. The instruments used are a bamboo stick with measurements etched into it, a flow meter, an orange, a timer, thermometer, and a sheet of paper to record the data. There are 10 water monitoring sites in total and they are chosen based on the land use. Sites are in the middle of a pasture, in the middle of a forested area, in a pasture next to a forested area, and in a forest next to pasture. We mark a 6 meter section of the stream and divide it into three transects. Measurements of width of the water and width of the growth in each of the transects indicate the amount of erosion that is occurring over time. Then we measure the depths in three parts for each transect.
Here is a picture of Nick, a volunteer from the UK measuring the depth with the bamboo.
Next we throw the orange into the water and time how long it takes for it to travel from the first transect, the top of the cross-section, to the third/last transect, the bottom of the cross-section. Next the flow measurements are taken at the middle transect in 3-10 subsections, based on the width of the transect.
Lastly we record the temperature and enter the data into an excel spread sheet which calculates the discharges rates and enables comparison of different sites over time.
Monday, May 30, 2011
WorkWorkWork
Yesterday Robin,the director, arrived and gave me a vague understanding of what my role is going to be here. As a GIS coordinator at Iracambi I am going to be following up on the mining project was last worked on by an Australian GIS coordinator, Ben. Ben had been working on mapping exactly where the mineral deposits are in the area and has found they are extremely fragmented.
This area of Minas Gerias is rich in boxite deposits, which are used to produce aluminium. There has been a mining company coming in to extract this natural resource, however they have not been following the legal environmental regulations. According to Robin, I'm going to be transported to the mining sites with a Portuguese translator to take pictures and record GPS points of the mining sites. I will then map this data to expose (with precise detail) the unethical and illegal practices of the mining company.
For now I'm trying to install the GIS programs onto the computer, while running into some technical difficulties. This afternoon we are all going water monitoring, measuring the flow and discharge rates of local estuaries. I'm looking forward to another hike.
This area of Minas Gerias is rich in boxite deposits, which are used to produce aluminium. There has been a mining company coming in to extract this natural resource, however they have not been following the legal environmental regulations. According to Robin, I'm going to be transported to the mining sites with a Portuguese translator to take pictures and record GPS points of the mining sites. I will then map this data to expose (with precise detail) the unethical and illegal practices of the mining company.
For now I'm trying to install the GIS programs onto the computer, while running into some technical difficulties. This afternoon we are all going water monitoring, measuring the flow and discharge rates of local estuaries. I'm looking forward to another hike.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Oui!
Quick intro- I'm Yelena, a junior at Clark University studying geography. I'm from Jacksonville, Florida and this summer I am doing an internship at Amigos de Iracambi Research and Conservation Center located in the Minas Gerias state in Brazil.
Today I spent my first full day at Iracambi after three stressful days of transit. To get here first I took 3 planes through Miami and Sao Paulo. I finally arrived in Rio at 11pm, 19 hours after leaving my house, only to discover that my luggage was left in Sao Paulo. Tired and frustrated, I filled out the necessary forms, made my way through customs, and found a very enthusiastic flamboyant man holding up a sign with my name on it from the car service I ordered to reach my hostel. Apparently red lights don't mean anything in Rio once the clock strikes midnight, thus I quickly arrived at my hostel to be greeted by Devin, a GIS grad student from Clark, who will be doing the same internship at Iracambi.
The next day we waited for hours for my luggage to arrive at the hostel. It finally arrived, but too late from us to arrive at Iracambi that day. Anxious with all the anticipation of Iracambi we decide to complete another leg of our journey and take one of the two buses to get to the rainforest. The first bus available was at 6pm, which meant riding for 5 hours in complete darkness (it is winter in Brazil so it gets dark around 530) to reach Muriae, the largest town near Iracambi. This bus ride was terrifying because it was PITCH black and there were only two other people on the bus. In Muriae we stayed in a "hotel" that was recommended by Iracambi. It was the scariest, grossest hotel I have ever encountered. We ended up being given a triple and as Devin said, "Two smaller beds for us and the bigger one for the cockroaches." I woke up at 5am from a horrid night sleep and waited for Devin to wake so we could make it back to the bus station. After a bus and a taxi I arrived at Iracambi 3 days after leaving home but with all of my luggage and feeling very relieved!
Dinnertime now but I've been mighty busy taking lots of hikes around this beautiful mountainous area and hopefully I'll have some pictures up soon!
Ciao!
Today I spent my first full day at Iracambi after three stressful days of transit. To get here first I took 3 planes through Miami and Sao Paulo. I finally arrived in Rio at 11pm, 19 hours after leaving my house, only to discover that my luggage was left in Sao Paulo. Tired and frustrated, I filled out the necessary forms, made my way through customs, and found a very enthusiastic flamboyant man holding up a sign with my name on it from the car service I ordered to reach my hostel. Apparently red lights don't mean anything in Rio once the clock strikes midnight, thus I quickly arrived at my hostel to be greeted by Devin, a GIS grad student from Clark, who will be doing the same internship at Iracambi.
The next day we waited for hours for my luggage to arrive at the hostel. It finally arrived, but too late from us to arrive at Iracambi that day. Anxious with all the anticipation of Iracambi we decide to complete another leg of our journey and take one of the two buses to get to the rainforest. The first bus available was at 6pm, which meant riding for 5 hours in complete darkness (it is winter in Brazil so it gets dark around 530) to reach Muriae, the largest town near Iracambi. This bus ride was terrifying because it was PITCH black and there were only two other people on the bus. In Muriae we stayed in a "hotel" that was recommended by Iracambi. It was the scariest, grossest hotel I have ever encountered. We ended up being given a triple and as Devin said, "Two smaller beds for us and the bigger one for the cockroaches." I woke up at 5am from a horrid night sleep and waited for Devin to wake so we could make it back to the bus station. After a bus and a taxi I arrived at Iracambi 3 days after leaving home but with all of my luggage and feeling very relieved!
Dinnertime now but I've been mighty busy taking lots of hikes around this beautiful mountainous area and hopefully I'll have some pictures up soon!
Ciao!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Going... Going...
I'm chillin at home for a few days in J-ville (Jacksonville), Florida but I'm departing for Brazil this Monday, May 23. I've been buying lots of things for my trip and for fun! This is my first blog ever, I'm very excited about it.
This summer I am going to be conducting research as the GIS Coordinator for the Brazilian NGO Iracambi thanks to the Barth Summer Internship Award and the Condakes Geography Research Grant.
Here's some info from Iracambi's website
This summer I am going to be conducting research as the GIS Coordinator for the Brazilian NGO Iracambi thanks to the Barth Summer Internship Award and the Condakes Geography Research Grant.
Here's some info from Iracambi's website
Brazil's Atlantic Rainforest is of the world's top five biodiversity hotspots, where Iracambi dedicates its work to saving forests and changing lives.
A little bit about us. We're a non-profit organization, Amigos de Iracambi, supporting a Research Center which is based on a sustainable forest farm where we can put our ideas to work. We're in the buffer zone of the Serra do Brigadeiro State Park in the mountains of southeastern Brazil. It's an area of extraordinary beauty, abundant water and exceptional biodiversity, and it's home to the world's largest population of the highly endangered northern muriqui monkey - known as the Wooly Spider Monkey.
Maybe I'll see that monkey...
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)