Radar Mining Monitoring - RAMI

Tracking Mining in the Peruvian Amazon

Solution Application

Open Source

Classifying Mining to Shut it Down

SIG’s Radar Mining Monitoring service (RAMI) was created to help Peru’s Ministry of Environment analyze the effects of mining in the Madre de Dios region of the Peruvian Amazon. It identifies new mining fronts, monitors persistent mining activity, and classifies the activities as illegal, informal, or formal. SIG worked with SERVIR Amazonia, Conservación Amazónica, and the Programa Nacional de Conservación de Bosques to implement this service.

Technical Data

System Capabilities

System Support

Big Changes can be Hard to See

Mining is a major contributor to forest degradation in the Amazon. Mining not only directly deforests, it also pollutes the landscape with mercury and other contaminants. But it can be hard to detect, especially at the small scale of much illegal mining. Authorities had few tools at their disposal – primarily visible band satellite imagery updated only when there was no cloud cover, and no visibility at all during rainy periods.

Using RAMI

New Technologies for Old Problems

RAMI combines C-band synthetic aperture radar data from the European Space Agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite with open source high resolution data from the Norwegian International Climate and Forest Initiative. Synthetic aperture radar is able to detect very small changes on the ground, even in cloudy conditions. And it is updated continually, offering near real-time intelligence.

Iterations of RAMI will include even more sensitive L-band data that can even detect activity under the forest canopy.

Power in Partnerships

RAMI was developed with support of the SERVIR-Amazonia Program which is part of (SERVIR Global), a joint initiative of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Since 2005, SERVIR has worked in partnership with countries to use information provided by Earth-observing satellites and geospatial technologies. SERVIR-Amazonia, led by the Alliance of Bioversity International and the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT), is the newest of five SERVIR hubs. It is a five-year program (2019-2023) that brings together local knowledge and some of the world’s best science in geospatial and Earth observation technology. Spatial Informatics Group is proud to be a key member of this constellation.

RAMI Validation

Open Science brings Benefits to All

In keeping with SIG’s open science approach, RAMI is freely available to all online. It is an example of how open science can leverage leading agencies and advanced technologies to massively strengthen the toolkits of on-the-ground entities in some of the most remote places on Earth.