Rio-Nasa Partnership: United States consul general visits Rio Operations Center

The United States Consul General in Rio de Janeiro, Jacqueline Ward, visited the Rio Operations Center (COR) on Friday morning (13/1) to learn more about the results of the partnership established between the City of Rio and the American space agency NASA. Designed with the aim of sharing data, models and scientific and operational knowledge, the agreement between the institutions allows the City to obtain applicable results that expand the city's capacity to prevent disasters and adapt to climate change.

– For me, it is a very special experience to be here at COR and learn about the resources the city of Rio has for preventing and responding to natural disasters. And it is an even greater source of pride to know that NASA’s partnership is helping to improve monitoring, ensuring even greater safety and protection for the people of Rio – said Jacqueline Ward, accompanied by the Education and Culture Attaché, Mark Carr, and Alton King, Environmental Affairs Specialist, both members of the American consulate, in addition to several representatives from the City Hall.

Renewed in 2021, the joint work allowed the development of a tool that assists in monitoring during the rains of the Rio summer: the Landslide Hazard Assessment for Situational Awareness (Lhasa Rio) model, which allows monitoring the risks of landslides in the city. The tool, used by the Rio Operations Center during storms, was built by the Pereira Passos Institute (IPP) in partnership with NASA and the Geo-Rio Foundation.

– The partnership is extremely important and is yielding results for both institutions: by adapting global models to the local environment, the American space agency can verify the efficiency of the model and, based on the lessons learned in Rio, replicate it to help other cities. For Rio, Lhasa helps save lives, which in itself is an exceptional gain for the city – highlighted Carlos Krykhtine, president of the Pereira Passos Institute.

For the summer of 2023, Lhasa Rio has a new feature: now, in addition to knowing where rainfall is heaviest and where there is a risk of landslides, COR can now monitor whether these risks could affect the vicinity of streets, avenues and roads in the city. Using a road classification hierarchy, the new tool shows where landslides may occur and whether there are important public roads nearby, allowing the City Hall to make decisions more quickly, such as closing roads.

– This is another tool that helps us monitor the city, especially on rainy days. Having cooperation with NASA, one of the world’s leading researchers, is extremely important for the Rio Operations Center, not only from the city’s operations perspective, but also to ensure that we are always at the forefront of technology – said Alexandre Cardeman, COR’s chief executive.

Rio was the first local and operational implementation of NASA’s global landslide model. Today, the model is used by the Rio Operations Center as one of its triggers to decide whether the city changes its operational level during rain events. The partnership with the space agency also includes a model for predicting urban flooding and an application that will allow for issuing air quality alerts.

– Today we are presenting applications aimed at the city’s routine operations and disaster prevention. We also have other initiatives in the partnership, such as studies on sea level rise due to climate change, urban heat islands, the relationship between air quality and public health, and we have also carried out education and scientific dissemination projects with the Education Department – ​​concluded Felipe Mandarino, technical coordinator of city information at the Pereira Passos Institute.

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January 13, 2023

Appointments: Rio Operations Center (COR) US Consul General Pereira Passos Institute NASA the partnership City Hall of Rio visit