No abstract

After the collapse of the San Rafael waterfall in Northeast Ecuador on 2 February 2020, a regressive erosion started along the River Coca putting national infrastructure, the environment and indigenous communities at risk. A fast monitoring of areas exposed to landslides on local scales therefore is necessary to provide adequate risk management for the region. The study area, located in the Andean tropics close to the volcano Reventador, is characterized by steep slopes, seismic activity and high rainfall throughout the year. Sentinel-1 SAR data provide a solution for time-series monitoring in the region as imagery is available day and night and not affected by cloud cover. Landslide monitoring with Sentinel-1 SAR data was implemented using a bi-temporal change detection (BCD) with SNAP and a sequential change detection (SCD) with EESA Docker and the Google Earth Engine (GEE) aiming at the identification of a suited approach for fast disaster monitoring and management. The SCD showed an overall accuracy of 0.91 compared to 0.88 using the BCD approach validated with high-resolution imagery. Based on the landslide detection, hazard variables could be further identified to support future hazard and risk assessment. Fast processing of Sentinel-1 time-series data in a cloud-based environment allows for near real-time monitoring of ongoing erosion and provides a potential for pro-active measures to protect the national economy, the environment and the society.

No abstract

Accessibility to the Ecuadorian Amazonian region is critical due to its high level of isolation and lack of infrastructure, which restricts people's mobility to long walks, river boats, small planes or a combination of them. Building roads in the Amazon region will expedite accessibility and socio-economic development; however it has a high environmental impact. Finding alternative solutions for transportation without endangering the Amazon ecosystem is a challenge for sustainability. Using the extensive network of rivers in the Amazon is becoming a potential solution for transportation. However, this mean of mobility faces its own drawbacks related to fuel cost and availability, environmental impacts and fuel smuggling through the border impacting national security. Electric canoes coupled with renewable energy systems represent an alternative that has been successfully applied in several parts of the world, including Galapagos-Ecuador. Therefore, this paper aims to present a technical-economic analysis of solar canoes to be used in rivers of the southern part of the Ecuadorian Amazonian where more than 500 indigenous families live. These communities now have electricity, through individual photovoltaic systems from the "Yatsa Ii Etsari" project developed by the local utility. The results show that solar canoes are a technical and economical option for autonomous navigation up to 4 hours, representing a sustainable alternative for river transportation in the Ecuadorian Amazon.