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Morphological and Environmental Change Assessment: San Juan River Area, Costa Rica

Mon, 10 Jan 2011 11:02:29 GMT
Product ID: 1526 - English
Published: 10 Jan, 2011
GLIDE: EN-2010-122900-CRI
FootPrint (Lat x Long, WSG84 Geographic, decimal degrees)
TopLeft: 10.97 x -83.8
BottomRight: 10.6 x -83.5

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A 30 year time series of satellite imagery dating from 1979 was reviewed for significant morphological and environmental changes in Costa Rica along the San Juan River area focusing on the areas of Isla Portillos and Isla Calero. Particular focus was made on identifying and analyzing important morphological and environmental changes since October 2010 over the area between the San Juan River and Laguna Los Portillos. Significant areas of recent tree cover removal, river dredging and new river channel creation were identified as occurring during the period from August to December 2010 between the San Juan River and Laguna Los Portillos; further there is apparently an area of active land removal on a meander bend of the San Juan River approximately 400m to the south of the newly created channel. If this meander land removal continues, it could redirect the flow of San Juan approximately 175m to the west, likely increasing river flow velocity downstream; such an increase in water velocity could also have the effect of accelerating erosion along the newly created river channel to the north. This preliminary analysis is based on a historic collection of low, medium and very high resolution satellite images recorded between 1979 and December 2010 and has not yet been validated in the field.
Satellite Imagery: Ikonos and GeoEye
Resolution: 1.0m and 50cm
Imagery Dates: 8 August, 19 Nov. & 14 Dec.2010
Source: European Space Imaging
Copyright: GeoEye 2010
Hydrology Data: GEBCO, UNOSAT, NGA
Report Analysis: UNITAR / UNOSAT
Projection: UTM Zone 16N
Datum: WGS-84

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