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Abstract. This study, a companion paper to Renou et al. (2011), focuses on the application of a GIS-based method to assess building vulnerability and damage in the event of a tsunami affecting the coastal area of Rabat and Salé, Morocco. This approach, designed within the framework of the European SCHEMA project (www.schemaproject.org) is based on the combination of hazard results from numerical modelling of the worst case tsunami scenario (inundation depth) based on the historical Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and the Portugal earthquake of 1969, together with vulnerability building types derived from Earth Observation data, field surveys and GIS data. The risk is then evaluated for this highly concentrated population area characterized by the implementation of a vast project of residential and touristic buildings within the flat area of the Bouregreg Valley separating the cities of Rabat and Salé. A GIS tool is used to derive building damage maps by crossing layers of inundation levels and building vulnerability. The inferred damage maps serve as a base for elaborating evacuation plans with appropriate rescue and relief processes and to prepare and consider appropriate measures to prevent the induced tsunami risk.

An unsupervised classification method is developed for the coarse segmentation of Moroccan coastal upwelling using the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) satellite images. The algorithm is started with the generation of c-partitioned labeled image using Otsu's method for the purpose of finding regions of homogenous temperatures. Then two well-known validity indices are used to select the c-partition which best reproduce the shape of upwelling area. A region-growing algorithm is developed that is used to remove the noisy structures in the offshore waters not belonging to the upwelling area. The algorithm is used to provide a seasonal variability of upwelling activity in the southern Moroccan Atlantic coast using 70 SST images of the years 2007 and 2008. The performance of the proposed methodology has been validated by an oceanographer, showing its effectiveness for automatic delimitation of Moroccan upwelling region.

Abstract. In the framework of the three-year SCHEMA European project (www.schemaproject.org), we present a generic methodology developed to produce tsunami building vulnerability and impact maps. We apply this methodology to the Moroccan coast. This study focuses on the Bouregreg Valley which is at the junction between Rabat (administrative capital), and Salé. Both present large populations and new infrastructure development. Using a combination of numerical modelling, field surveys, Earth Observation and GIS data, the risk has been evaluated for this vulnerable area.Two tsunami scenarios were studied to estimate a realistic range of hazards on this coast: a worst-case scenario based on the historical Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and a moderate scenario based on the Horseshoe earthquake of 28 February 1969. For each scenario, numerical models allowed the production of tsunami hazard maps (maximum inundation extent and maximum inundation depths). Moreover, the modelling results of these two scenarios were compared with the historical data available.A companion paper to this article (Atillah et al., 2011) presents the following steps of the methodology, namely the elaboration of building damage maps by crossing layers of building vulnerability and the so-inferred inundation depths.

Abstract. This work aims at automatically identify the upwelling areas in coastal ocean of Morocco using the Sea Surface Temperature (SST) satellite images. This has been done by using the fuzzy clustering technique. The proposed approach is started with the application of Gustafson-Kessel clustering algorithm in order to detect groups in each SST image with homogenous and non-overlapping temperature, resulting in a c-partitioned labeled image. Cluster validity indices are used to select the c-partition that best reproduces the shape of upwelling areas. An area opening technique is developed that is used to filter out the residuals noise and fine structures in offshore waters not belonging to the upwelling regions. The developed algorithm is applied and adjusted over a database of 70 SST images from years 2007 and 2008, covering the southern part of Moroccan atlantic coast. The system was evaluated by an oceanographer and provided acceptable results for a wide variety of oceanographic conditions.