Modeling and Development of a Geographic Database: Application to the Elaboration of Oil-spill Environmental Sensitivity Maps in Coastal Areas of the Rio Grande do Norte State

The study area is located between Galinhos and São Bento do Norte beaches, northern coast of the Rio Grande do Norte State. This area is characterized by natural factors and the human interference huge in the surroundings due to the Guamaré Petroliferous Pole nearby, the greater terrestrial oil producing in Brazil. The first part of this work consisted to elaborate a Geographic Database to store all the data collected on this study. This dataset was stored as a virtual library to assist men decisions from the results presented as digital thematic maps, tables and reports. The second stage of this work consisted on elaborate the Oil-Spill Environmental Sensitivity Maps. These maps are cartographic products that supply full information to the decision making, contingency planning and assessment in case of an oil spilling incident in any area. They represent the sensitivity of the areas related to oil spilling, through basic data such as geology, geomorphology, oceanographic, social-economic and biology. Thus using the available data were possible to develop sensitivity maps of the study area on different dates (June/2000 and December/2000) and to perceive that there was a difference on the sensitivity index generated. The area on December presented more sensible indices to the oil than June presents because hydrodynamic data (wave and tide energy) allowed a faster natural cleaning on June. This presented a medium index (3 to 4) to the long shore and a high index (10) to the mangrove areas highly vulnerable to oil spill.