A real-time monitoring system for the Santos Basin to create the more efficient management of oil spills and ocean currents, Project Blue was launched on Thursday (June 21), at Rio +20, at Parque dos Atletas, at a round table attended by the Secretary of Research and Development Policies and Programs at the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI), Carlos Nobre.

Nobre took the opportunity to stress the importance of improving our knowledge of the Atlantic Ocean, to ensure sustainable development. "Having the ability to study it, understand it, and make use of it, in a protected manner, is essential," he said, adding that "the Brazilian government has a very clear notion of the subject and it has become a priority."

Prior knowledge of currents will allow them to be tracked and means action can be taken faster to contain and disperse oil at sea, minimizing environmental impacts. In an investment budgeted at R$ 20 million by BG Brasil over the next three years, Project Blue will enhance knowledge of the region's environment, based on information collected about the dynamics of the ocean's currents, the water's temperature and salinity, pH level, dissolved oxygen and chlorophyll levels, plus its color and organic matter.

These parameters will be collected and analyzed by the Computational Methods in Engineering Laboratory at the Alberto Luiz Coimbra Institute for Graduate Studies and Research in Engineering (Lamce-Coppe), and will be made available in real time to universities and research centers. To support Project Blue, Lamce-Coppe will develop a supercomputer to analyze the data to be sent to the National Institute for Space Research (INPE).

Monitoring will be done with help of robots divers (seagliders), drifters (buoys with meters attached), profilers (which, among other parameters, measure currents in deep water) and satellite images. The initiative makes a minimum use of ships to reduce fuel consumption, carbon emissions, and operational risks, and ensures the collection of data with autonomous equipment, tracked or controlled by satellite.

Oceanographic ship

On highlighting the joint effort between the public and private sectors in developing technology in the area, Carlos Nobre also announced the acquisition of an oceanographic ship, in a partnership between the Ministry, the Navy, Petrobras and Vale, in an investment of US$ 88 million. He said the ship will be one of the top five oceanographic research vessels in the world.

"We believe it is very important that Brazil develop a federal oceanographic research institute," said Nobre. "We have one in space research, and other sectors, but not in oceanography. This is a gap has now been closed, creating a national institute of oceanography and sea science. This is what makes this partnership between the public and private sectors so important," he concluded.

Text: Juliana d'Arede - Press Office, MCTI

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