AUTOMATIC GENERATION OF VULNERABILITY MAPS AS A TOOL FOR DECISIONS MAKING OF OIL SPILL PREVENTION ALONG COASTAL AREAS.

FREITAS, C.C.M. de; AMARO V.E.; CASTRO, A.F. de; 2011. Automatic generation of vulnerability maps as a tool for decisions making of oil spill prevention along coastal areas. Journal of Coastal Research, SI 64 (Proceedings of the 11th International Coastal Symposium), 1658 - 1662. Szczecin, Poland, ISSN 0749-0208 The northern coast of the Rio Grande do Norte State (RN), northeast Brazil, is characterized by intense dynamics affecting areas with ecosystems of moderate to high environmental sensitivity submitted to strong winds and waves on a mesotidal conditions. In this region are installed the main socioeconomic activities of RN: salt industry, shrimp farms, fruit industry and oil industry. The oil industry suffers the effects of coastal dynamic action such as erosion affecting and exposing wells foundation and pipelines along the shore. However nearly all land-based oil pollution accidents are due to human activity, although regulation has being liable to spotlight on seagoing oil exploration. Northern coastal areas in RN under influence of oil industry are highly susceptible and sensitive in case of accidents involving oil spill due to socioeconomic activities and mangrove ecosystem in the vicinity. Consequently, it was established the geoenvironmental monitoring of the region with the aim of evaluate the entire coastal area evolution and check the sensitivity of the site on the presence of oil. Due to the constant expansion of human activities a consciousness about the importance of environmental studies has been improved. Thus this work presents the implementation of a computer system that combines the needs of insertion and visualization of thematic maps for the generation of Environmental Vulnerability maps, using techniques of Business Intelligence (BI), based on vector information previously stored in the database. The fundamental design interest was to implement a more scalable system that links varied themes and make the appropriate conditions for generating online vulnerability maps.