Video lessons on monitoring Amazon waters, for OTCA

The Amazon Hydrological Network depends on automatic stations that measure rainfall and river levels and send the data by satellite. If a sensor loses calibration or an antenna loses its signal, the information that guides water management in eight countries arrives wrong or doesn't arrive at all. OTCA, the Amazon Cooperation Treaty Organization, and ANA, Brazil's National Water Agency, needed material that would teach, step by step, how to check and maintain these stations, in clear language for technicians with different backgrounds and in three languages.

We started from the knowledge of ANA's technicians and organized the ten lessons in the order the work happens in the field: antenna, power, rain, pressure, bubbler and radar sensors, the differences between the two main equipment brands and, finally, good practices at the stations. Each script went through pedagogical adjustment and technical validation by the agency.

We filmed eight lessons in ANA's lab and instrumentation yard in Brasília, and two at riverside stations around Porto Velho, Rondônia. The agency's own technicians lead the lessons, with close-ups of the equipment and software screens. There is no soundtrack, as the terms of reference required, so nothing competes with the explanation.

In post-production, we created the series bumper, added graphics and subtitles, and dubbed the lessons in a studio into Spanish and English.

The lessons now complement a free course on ANA's training platform.