Scientific journals in the SciELO database, indicators of impact and the relative position of Ambiente & Água

This editorial describes the process of periodic evaluation by CAPES, based on commercial indices proposed by companies such as the ISI FI by Thomson Reuters and SCImago by Scopus and public indices as proposed by SciELO and other freely calculated indices based on Google Scholar and investigates the impact position of the journal Ambiente & Agua compared with journals from the SciELO base. Results show that Ambiente & Agua is in the right path in the search for quality. Its editorial board strongly recommends that Brazilian public scientific agencies consider tools that are cost free and have large coverage for impact evaluation to allow the impact assessment of a range of emerging journals in a common and wide basis for all scientific journals

Ambiente & Água in the context of impact indicators of scientific Brazilian journals

For quite some time the international scientific community has criticized the use of impact indicators based only on few journals registered at commercially subscribed databases such as the ISI Web of Knowledge (producer of Journal Citation Reports - JCR). Several studies focusing on different subject areas have demonstrated the advantages and disadvantages of assessing the impact of an article, or journal, from commercial and open-access databases, such as Google Scholar (Segen, 1997; Gisvold, 1999; DuBois and Reeb, 2000; Whitehouse, 2002; Baumgartner and Pieters, 2003; Cameron, 2005; Ha et al., 2006; Mingers and Harzing, 2007). Most of the studies found that there was a strong correlation between impact indicators measured by a commercial databases (restricted) and open-access in certain field areas (Science, Health, Biological and Applied Social), while areas usually with lesser coverage by commercial databases (Environment, Humanities, among others) end up having lower impact indicator values based on these commercial databases. Moreover, the number of publications in these last areas has shown a significant expansion recently and, therefore, they end up receiving greater impact scores when evaluated by open-access databases. In these cases the correlation between impact indicators calculated by restricted versus open-access database is significantly lower. In this exercise, developed to obtain impact values of various Brazilian scientific journals in international open-access databases, not only it could be demonstrated the role that the journal Ambiente & Água withholds in the national scientific community (and even international if considered the information published in previous editorials), but also witnesses the degree of efficiency, transparency, and simplicity of the indicators used. The Editorial Board of the journal Ambiente & Água stands in favor of using indicators that are transparent, simple, and free of charge in the process of assessing the impact of published articles and scientific Brazilian journals

Energy and environmental study of the replacement of a cellulose pulp mill as an environmental gain

A significant fraction of the energy spent in Brazil is associated with industrial consumption (40.6%). The purpose of this work was to demonstrate one of many ways to reduce electric energy consumption by the industry and, consequently, reduce emissions associated with the generation, transmission, and consumption of this resource. The search for energetic efficiency, coupled with economic, social, and environmental practices can shift the industry in the direction of sustainability. The emission of CO2/kWh was chosen as a sustainability indicator to monitor the energy consumption pattern during the development of this research. The main objective was to assess the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions associated with a more efficient electric energy consumption strategy adopted by a large manufacturer. At this company, a cellulose pulp milling system used during a diaper manufacturing process was replaced by another system with higher efficiency. Energy consumption was reduced by 60%, and greenhouse gas emissions were reduced by an estimated 80 ton/year of carbon dioxide (CO2). These results demonstrate the relationship between adopting a more energy efficient system and a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. Moreover, these practices contribute to significant industrial cost reduction

A enchente de São Luis do Paraitinga: evidências de sua dimensão obtidas a partir de dados orbitais

The town of São Luis do Paraitinga was heavily affected by a flood in the 2010 New Years Eve. According to initial assessment Paraitinga River water rose 15 meters above its normal level. Precipitation measuring equipment was either nonexistent or non-operational during the storm. Churches built in the 19 th century with weak structures were completely destroyed during the flood. The objective of this article was to answer the following question: do the marks left by the flood in a Landsat image obtained 40 days after the event could provide significant information toward understanding the intensity and location of the torrential rains that caused this catastrophic event? Methods included Landsat TM classification through a decision tree technique to identify the actual flooded area. The classified raster map was converted to vector for both post-classification edition and comparison with a DEM dataset (provided by TOPODATA Project) to measure elevation in 72 transects distributed 1,000 meter apart along the river channel. Results indicate that the river raised an average of 22m with 10.8m standard deviation during the flood. Above the confluence of Paraitinga and Jacui rivers, transect elevation show that Paraitinga may have a channel more deeply carved in the landscape. Flood reach 34m at Paraitinga compared to 25m at Jacui, which shows wider flooded areas. As a conclusion it can be stated that both rivers contributed similarly to the flood and rains might have dropped at similar intensity in both catchment areas.Pages: 1411-141

Preferências topográficas das áreas cultivadas com eucalipto no Vale do Paraíba Paulista

Degraded lands due to coffee plantation cycle in the 19 th and 20 th in the eastern portion of the State of São Paulo is a heritage that contemporary rural communities have to face in order to turn those lands in sources of subsistence and income. Eucalyptus appeared as an option in the 1990s and plantation areas in this region have expanded rapidly in the last 10 years. This fact raised a question: does the spatial distribution of areas planted with eucalyptus in the Paraiba river valley, in the State of São Paulo (with approximately 15.000 sq. km), show any preference for certain topographical features? The objective of this article is to identify the topographic characteristics of areas used for eucalyptus plantation in the Paraiba do Sul river valley by developing a geospatial database and applying a model to characterize the relationships among topographic parameters. Methods included the development of three layers representing slope (classified in six categories), aspect (classified in four categories), and topographic index (classified in four categories) based on DEM data provided by the TOPODATA Project. Results indicate that eucalyptus plantations are located in areas with lower topographic index values where lower soil water concentrations are found and legal conservation areas are absent. These areas also are located on higher slopes and few on flatlands. No preference was observed for aspect. Adopted methods appear to be sufficiently robust for the analysis of such a relative large area.Pages: 1957-196

Environmental indicators as an integrated management instrument for watersheds

Environmental problems at the watershed level are complex and require solutions that minimize socioeconomic, environmental, and political-institutional impacts. Within this context, a crosscutting analysis of concepts related to sustainable development, sustainable agriculture, watershed structure, and the use of indicators to measure local sustainability is of paramount importance for planning development at the local level. The objective of this research was to collect information related to management practices and rural development regarding the watersheds of Ribeirão Cachoeirinha and Córrego do Meio in the municipality of São Luiz do Paraitinga, SP. The goal was to propose sustainability indicators that would support an integrated watershed management strategy and promote sustainable development. Indicators should be based on the sustainability of watershed activities, be useful tools for implementing sustainable development and serve as reference in the decision-making process. Methods involved a general characterization of the area and the community using field surveys and published sources. The criteria utilized for defining the boundaries of the area were based on the Watershed State Program developed by the Agriculture and Supply Secretariat of the State of São Paulo. The results led to the development of 83 sustainability indicators and indicated the need for the community to develop an integrated strategy to promote local sustainable development

Quantificação da área plantada de milho no oeste sergipano por meio de dados orbitais: desafios e perspectivas

The identification of areas with crops of small extent by remote sensing data is a challenge yet to be overcome. This study aims to estimate the areas planted with corn in the municipalities of Carira and Simão Dias, in Sergipe, in the period before and after 2007 to assess the increase of corn production accounted for by IBGE (Brazilian Institute or Geography and Statistics). Landsat TM data from path & row 215/067 obtained in December 7th 2006 and November 10th 2008 was used. In order to identify areas of corn out of its phenological growth cycle it was necessary to develop a classification strategy that allowed estimating these areas from the remaining characteristics in the ground through supervised classification. The intersection of the two layers of vectorized polygons allowed to estimate the relative variation of the areas planted in the two years. The results indicate that when comparing data from IBGE estimates with the ones from this study, there was an increase from 2006 to 2008 in corn field area in Carira in the order of 151% against 6%, respectively, and in Simão Dias 29% against 4% reduction, respectively. Comparing the percentage of the municipal area under corn fields, according to IBGE records Carira, in 2006, this area corresponded to 21.5% of the territory and in 2008 increased to 54.2%. According to this study, the area has increased from 25.5% to 27% in the same period. The probable increase in the frequency of remote sensing data collection with medium and high spatial resolution, from the launch of new sensors in 2012 and 2013, should increase the chances of obtaining multispectral images compatible with the identification of agricultural areas smaller than 90 hectares.Pages: 563-56

Spatial distribution of Eucalyptus plantations in the São Paulo State portion of Paraíba do Sul river basin, Brazil

This study assessed the evolution of the area planted to Eucalyptus, by municipality, in São Paulo state in the river basin of the Paraíba do Sul from 2001 to 2007. The methodology of this study involved the identification and mapping of Eucalyptus in 2007 based on the analysis and interpretation of Landsat-5 TM imagery acquired in 2007 using the mapping produced by the Forestry Institute of São Paulo (IF) for the year 2000 as a reference. Thus, a thematic map of the occurrence of Eucalyptus in 2007 was generated and overlaid on the boundaries of the municipalities that occurred in this watershed. Areal estimates of Eucalyptus plantations of each municipality were compared with data from the year 2001 and revealed an increase of 32.2% in the cultivated area in the region up to 2007. The results from 2007 were compared with data from a project LUPA from the Secretary of Agriculture of São Paulo State also from 2007 and it was found a difference of only 1.4%, considering the set of all municipalities