Abstract
In the framework of Portuguese radio astronomical capacitation towards participation in the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) project, a site was selected for radio astronomical testing purposes and the development of a radio astronomical infrastructure. The site is within Herdade da Contenda (HC), a large national forest perimeter, located in Alentejo (Portugal). In order to minimize the impacts in the ecosystem and landscape, an application based on the Geographic Information System (GIS) open source environment was created, the HC Environmental Integrated Management System. This application combines several functionalities and menus with different characterization methods allowing the creation of multiple maps regarding the HC characteristics, such as Digital Elevation Model (DEM), Land Use Land Cover (LULC), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), groundwater vulnerability, erosion risk, flood risk and forest fire risk. Other geographical information can be added if necessary (human heritage visualization and fauna and flora). A decision making support tool was also developed. It incorporates an algorithm running through a series of assigned weights and eliminatory factors to find the locations best suited for the infrastructure with minimal impact to the local ecosystem. In order to test the application and the decision making tool, several maps were used as input in order to decide which sites are more adequate. The application developed can be adopted for other protected or natural areas.
Highlights
Radio astronomy is experiencing a golden era that is expected to last several decades and to culminate in the construction and operation of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a project expected to become the largest scientific infrastructure of mankind in the XXIst century
The slope map was derived from the Digital Elevation Model (DEM), and the probability map was created from the set of shapefiles with the burnt area information
The slope map was created from the DEM
Summary
Radio astronomy is experiencing a golden era that is expected to last several decades and to culminate in the construction and operation of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), a project expected to become the largest scientific infrastructure of mankind in the XXIst century. The SKA will address cutting-edge astrophysical and cosmological questions It will be spatially distributed with thousands of antennas to be placed in Africa and Australia, in exquisite sites with good climatic stability and very low population density, with very low radio frequency interference. The most important factor for the construction of a radio telescope is the Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) environment [3] Other geographical factors, such as the characteristics of the ionosphere and the troposphere, and the physical characteristics of the site, including climate and subsurface temperatures or rainfall, are relevant. The development of human activities led to an increase in radio spectral usage due to the rapid urbanization and the evolution of the industrial and the commercial sectors These facts impose stricter constraints on site selection, requiring follow-up negotiations on radio spectral allocation and permissions with relevant institutions, like the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and its national affiliates (spectrum regulators) and the International Union for Radio Science (URSI). GIS, RS data and MCDA techniques were used by Aksaker et al [7] to select the possible observatory locations in Turkey in order to obtain a list of potential observing sites
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