EOMAP monitoring Rio Doce dam incident

On November 5th 2015, two dams of an iron mining reservoir collapsed in Marina, federal state of Minas Gerais, Brazil. Subsequently, a mudslide burst out into Rio Doce, killing at least a dozen people and causing severe damage to nearby villages. The toxic components of the mining wastewaters are likely to harm the ecosystems along Rio Doce. Two weeks after the incident, the polluted waters reached the Brazilian Atlantic Ocean coast.

Using its proprietary, sensor-independent water quality processors, EOMAP was able to track the propagation of the mudslide in Rio Doce on its 650 km journey to the ocean. The arrival of the plume at the estuary can now be observed in EOMAP’s free eoApp® online water quality monitoring service, which is based on daily MODIS data – choose layer BR – Espirito Santo 500 – [500m] at the drop down menu on the right in order to display the satellite-retrieved turbidity measures which capture this event in near real time.

Higher resolution products, from 30 to 2 m horizontal resolution, are available upon request.

Fig.: Example of 30 m horizontal resolution product (Landsat 7/8, data ©USGS, processing ©EOMAP)

References:

• Brazilian dam burst
• Mining waste reaches Brazilian coast

Further reading:

• eoApp®-US
• EOMAP Water Quality Information Booklet