The application of remote sensing data to diagnose soil degradation in the Dakhla depression – Western Desert,Egypt

Dakhla depression in Egypt’s Western Desert is experiencing two soil degradation processes, notably: soil salinization and sand encroachment. The present study aimed to diagnose the severity of these processes using remote sensing. Soil salinity was determined by spectral regression analysis between tasselled cap spectral transform extracted from a Landsat-8 image acquired in September 2013 along with synchronized soil salinity measurements. Assessment of sand advance rate was conducted by temporal change detection of brilliant crescentic sand dune visualized by Google Earth in old (2002) and recent (2013) images. Results showed that salinized soils (dS/m4<) represent 91% of bare lands and salinization is attributed to aridity, topography and poor drainage. Barchan dunes north and south of Abu Tartur escarpment moved at rates of 5.9 and 3.6 m/year, respectively. The escarpment protected the majority of the depression from massive dune invasion. However, sand encroachment is clearly observed west of the depression.     

The Lake Manzala of Egypt: an ambiguous future

The Lake Manzala of Egypt has a relatively short history and its future, however, is uncertain. The lake which was the biggest coastal wetland along the Mediterranean Coast is moving toward its disappearance by two opposite forces, one of them is the shrinking of the water body by siltation of sediments coming from agricultural lands and the abundance of weeds and swamp vegetation as well as the drying practices for agriculture, whereas the other force incorporates the removal of the coastal sand bar separating the lake from the Mediterranean Sea by erosion, which should eventually lead to the conversion of the lake into a coastal embayment instead of being a closed coastal lagoon. The study provided a spatiotemporal change analysis of the lake using remotely sensed data.     

Retrieving spatial variations of land surface temperatures from satellite data–Cairo region,Egypt

Cairo region is characterized by a range of physiographic features, including: flat agricultural lands, bare sandy deserts, highlands, calcareous terrains and urban land use. A time series data-set (300 images) acquired from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer for the period July 2002–June 2015 were utilized to retrieve the spatial variations in the mean land surface temperature (LST) for the above-mentioned surface features. Results showed that vegetation, topography and surface albedo have negative correlations with LST. Vegetation/LST correlation has the maximum regression coefficient (R² = 0.68) and albedo/LST has the minimum (R² = 0.03). Cultivated lands reveal the lowest mean LST (<32 °C), whereas industrial lands exhibit the highest LST (>40 °C) of Cairo region. There is a considerable urban heat island formed at Helwan south of Cairo, where heavy industries are settled. Industrial activities raised the mean LST of the region by at least 4 °C than the surrounding urban lands.     

Effects of land use/cover change on regional land surface temperatures: severe warming from drying Toshka lakes,the Western Desert of Egypt

Natural Hazards - Toshka depression in the Western Desert of Egypt witnessed big floods in late 1990s from the Nile River behind the High Dam, where many lakes were formed. By the year 2003, the...     

Change detection of the coastal zone east of the Nile Delta using remote sensing

The coastal zone of the Nile Delta is a promising area for energy resources and industrial activities. It also contains important wetland ecosystems. This coastal area witnessed several changes during the last century. A set of four satellite images from the multi-spectral scanner (MSS), thematic mapper (TM) and Systeme Pour l’Observation de la Terre (SPOT) sensors were utilized in order to estimate the spatio-temporal changes that occurred in the coastal zone between Damietta Nile branch and Port-Said between 1973 and 2007. Image processing applied in this study included geometric rectification; atmospheric correction; on-screen shoreline digitizing of the 1973 (MSS) and 2007 (SPOT) images for tracking the shoreline position between Damietta promontory and Port-Said; and water index approach for quantifying Manzala lagoon surface area change using 1973 (MSS), 1984 (TM) and 2003 (TM) images. Results showed that coastal erosion was severe near Damietta promontory and decreased eastward, however, accretion was observed near Port-Said. About 50% of the coastal strip was under erosion and 13% was under accretion. In addition, a remarkable decline (34.5%) of the Manzala lagoon surface area was estimated. These changes were attributed mainly to the control of the River Nile flooding and the land use change by anthropogenic activities.     

Mapping coastal erosion at the Nile Delta western promontory using Landsat imagery

A set of six Landsat satellite images with 5–9 years apart was used in a post-classification analysis to map changes occurred at Rosetta promontory between 1973 and 2008 due to coastal erosion. Spectral information were extracted from two multi-spectral scanner (MSS) images (1973 and 1978), three thematic mapper (TM) images (1984, 1990, and 1999), and one enhanced thematic mapper plus (ETM+) image (2008). To estimate the quantity of land loss in terms of coastal erosion, a supervised classification scheme was applied to each image to highlight only two classes: seawater and land. The area of each class was then estimated from the number of pixels pertaining to this class in every image. In addition, the shoreline position was digitized to address retreat/advance pattern throughout the study period. Results showed that Rosetta promontory had lost 12.29 km² of land between 1973 and 2008 and the shoreline withdrew southward about 3.5 km due to coastal erosion. Most land loss and shoreline retreat occurred between 1973 and 1978 (0.55 km²/year and 132 m/year, respectively). Coastal protection structures were constructed successively at the promontory. These structures have considerably contributed to reduce coastal erosion; however, they promoted downdrift erosion.     

Detecting temporal shoreline changes and erosion/accretion rates,using remote sensing,and their associated sediment characteristics along the coast of North Sinai,Egypt

The variation during 15 years in the shoreline along the North Sinai coast has been determined by analysing TM and ETM true colour Landsat images from 1986 to 2001. The analyses identified erosion and accretion patterns along the coast. The shoreline has advanced west of El Bardawil inlet1, El Bardawil inlet2, and El Arish Harbour, where the wave-induced littoral transport has been halted by jetty construction and beach growth rates are 20,681, 69,855 and 20,160 m²/year, respectively. On the downdrift side of the constructed jetties to the east, the shoreline is retreating and beaches erode at rates of −71,710, −69,968, and −11,760 m²/year, respectively. Sedimentological analyses of beach sediment samples have indicated selective transport of heavy minerals according to their densities and grain sizes. A general correspondence has been found between variation in grain size, sorting and heavy-mineral content of beach sand and the patterns of shoreline changes.