An early warning system for flash floods in hyper-arid Egypt

Cools, Jan; Vanderkimpen, P.; Afandi, Gamal El; Abdel‐Khalek, Ahmed M.; Fockedey, S.; Sammany, M. El; Abdallah, G.; Bihery, M. El; Bauwens, Willy; Huygens, Marc

doi:10.5194/nhess-12-443-2012

Cited by 94 publications

(69 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…Several works studied the watershed and rainfall analysis of Sinai Peninsula (Issar 1982, Ghodeif 2001, Cools et al 2012,Afandi et al 2013and Elsayad et al, 2013. Figure 6 modified after Elsayad et al, 2013 shows that the rainfall heights for 50 years return period is 20 to 60 mm.…”

Section: Surface Runoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geospatial Analysis for the Determination of Hydro-Morphological Characteristics and Assessment of Flash Flood Potentiality in Arid Coastal Plains: A Case in Southwestern Sinai, Egypt

Wahid¹,

Madden

Khalaf

et al. 2016

Earth sci. res. j.

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Coastal plains with a unique geographic setting and renewable natural resources are promising for sustainable development; however, these areas may be subjected to some environmental hazards due to their geological setting. One of those hazards is the seasonal flash flood that can threaten existing and future development projects in such critical areas. Southwestern Sinai, Egypt, is a coastal plain that is characterized by complex geological setting an arid climate with seasonal rainfall which can result in a high runoff. The aim of this work is to model spatially the runoff amount and density related to flash flood development and to create a flash flood hazard map of the plain as an example of coastal plain in a desert environment with large and complex hydrologic setting. In this research, ASTER images are used to develop a digital elevation model (DEM) and land use/land cover (LULC) data sets of the study area. Geographic information system (GIS) was used to perform runoff and flash potential flood analyses of the created databases and to show distributed runoff and flooding potential in spatial maps. A module was created in a GIS environment to develop a flash flood potential index map. It was clear that the main two factors controlling runoff amounts and flash flood potential in such kinds of areas are the slope and soil types. The final dataset map procedure by this work can be very helpful in land use planning by highlighting the areas subjected to flash floods.Las llanuras costeras que poseen recursos naturales renovables y una configuración geográfica única son promisorias para el desarrollo sostenible. Estas áreas, sin embargo, son objeto de algunas amenazas ambientales debido a su escenario geológico. Una de estas amenazas es la temporada de inundaciones rápidas que pueden poner en riesgo los proyectos de desarrollo existentes y los futuros en estas zonas críticas. El suroccidente de Sinaí, Egipto, es una llanura costera que se caracteriza por su compleja configuración geológica de clima árido, con temporadas de lluvia que pueden resultar en una gran escorrentía. El objetivo de este trabajo fue modelar espacialmente la cantidad y densidad de escorrentía relacionada al desarrollo de inundaciones rápidas y elaborar un mapa de amenazas de inundación rápida en este valle, como un ejemplo de llanura costera en un ambiente desértico con un escenario hidrológico grande y complejo. En este trabajo se utilizaron imágenes ASTER para desarrollar un Modelo de Elevación Digital (DEM, en inglés) y establecer la información de uso del suelo/cobertura del suelo (LULC, en inglés) en el área de estudio. A partir del Sistema de Información Geográfica (GIS) se analizaron la escorrentía y el potencial de inundación de las bases de datos creadas, y se mostró la escorrentía y el potencial de inundación en mapas espaciales. Se creó un módulo en un ambiente del GIS para desarrollar un mapa del índice inundación rápida potencial. Se estableció que los dos factores que controlan la cantidad de escorrentía y el potencial de inu...

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Section: Surface Runoffmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geospatial Analysis for the Determination of Hydro-Morphological Characteristics and Assessment of Flash Flood Potentiality in Arid Coastal Plains: A Case in Southwestern Sinai, Egypt

Wahid¹,

Madden

Khalaf

et al. 2016

Earth sci. res. j.

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“…Average annual rainfall ranges from 10 mm per year in low coastal areas to 50 mm per year in the high mountains, but this entire annual rainfall can fall within the space of a single day in the form of unpredictable flash floods (Cools et al 2012). The local Bedouin traditionally farm orchard gardens in the surrounding mountains that depend on runoff rainwater from the floods to facilitate the growth of a variety of orchard products (such as almond, apricot, apple, pear and pomegranate) as well as vegetables and herbs (Norfolk et al 2012;Zalat & Gilbert 2008).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Culturally valuable minority crops provide a succession of floral resources for flower visitors in traditional orchard gardens

2014

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Francis (2014) Culturally valuable minority crops provide a succession of floral resources for flower visitors in traditional orchard gardens. Biodiversity and Conservation, 23 (13). pp. [3199][3200][3201][3202][3203][3204][3205][3206][3207][3208][3209][3210][3211][3212][3213][3214][3215][3216][3217] Access from the University of Nottingham repository: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34089/8/BioCons_Authors%20copy.pdf Copyright and reuse:The Nottingham ePrints service makes this work by researchers of the University of Nottingham available open access under the following conditions. This article is made available under the University of Nottingham End User licence and may be reused according to the conditions of the licence. For more details see: http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/end_user_agreement.pdf A note on versions:The version presented here may differ from the published version or from the version of record. If you wish to cite this item you are advised to consult the publisher's version. Please see the repository url above for details on accessing the published version and note that access may require a subscription. ABSTRACTAgricultural intensification typically has detrimental effects on pollinator communities, but diverse cropping systems that contain sequentially-flowering crops have the potential to benefit pollinators through the provision of additional floral resources. In this study we investigate the importance of cultivated flora for flower visitors in ten agricultural gardens in South Sinai, Egypt. Insect-flower interactions in gardens and unmanaged plots were surveyed across a four-month period in two environmentally distinct years (pre-flood and post-flood). Despite containing an equal abundance and diversity of wild plants as unmanaged habitat, gardens supported a higher abundance and diversity of flower visitors due to the additional presence of cultivated flora. Visitation networks exhibited dramatic intra-annual changes in composition, with cultivated plants becoming increasingly important in later months. Trends were highly conserved across two years despite highly contrasting rainfall. Several key crop species were strongly involved in shaping the structure of the networks, the majority of which were herbs with strong cultural significance (fennel, rosemary, mint) and grown incidentally alongside the primary orchard crops. Minority crops are frequently overlooked in agricultural systems due to their low economic value, but we 2 show that they can have a dramatic influence upon the structure of visitation networks, increasing both pollinator abundance and diversity, and emphasising the link between cultural practices and biodiversity conservation. Key wordsdiversification, homegarden, Egypt, pollination, sustainability IntroductionMany agricultural pollination studies focus on the intensive agricultural systems that 2014). Understanding the drivers of pollinator losses is important for tackling future food security and it is unfortunate that the most at-risk nations are those lacking...

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“…Average annual rainfall ranges from 10 mm per year in low coastal areas to 50 mm per year in the high mountains, but this entire annual rainfall can fall within the space of a single day as unpredictable flash floods (Cools et al, 2012). The local Bedouin traditionally farm orchard gardens at the base of the wadis that depend on the runoff rainwater to facilitate the growth of a variety of orchard products as well as vegetables and herbs (Norfolk et al, 2012;Zalat et al, 2008).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contrasting patterns of turnover between plants, pollinators and their interactions

Norfolk

Eichhorn

Gilbert

2014

Diversity and Distributions

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AimWe propose two contrasting models explaining how beta diversity can be maintained across a landscape and test these models on a plant-pollinator system in arid South Sinai. The region is known for its irrigated agricultural gardens, which appear as high diversity islands in the arid mountainous habitat. We aim to establish how these gardens are influencing patterns of landscape scale diversity and whether plants and pollinators are responding in contrasting ways. Location South Sinai, EgyptMethods Plant-pollinator interactions were surveyed in agricultural gardens and unmanaged habitat in the high mountains and the low mountains. Patterns of alpha-diversity and species turnover were quantified using three measures (Hill's numbers) and compared between the two levels of the interaction networks. ResultsIn the high mountains, gardens supported an equally abundant and more diverse ( In accordance with Model One, plants exhibited high levels of species turnover across the landscape, with gardens increasing overall heterogeneity. In accordance with Model Two, pollinators exhibited extremely low levels of turnover across the landscape, with gardens in the low mountains increasing local diversity by supporting species that were shared with the natural species pool. Main conclusionsPlants and pollinators exhibited highly contrasting patterns of species turnover across a landscape. Gardens supported a novel floral community, but pollinators exhibited the flexibility to forage on cultivated species and maintained extremely low levels of turnover.The landscape context had a strong influence upon the abundance and diversity of plantpollinator interactions, with gardens in the low mountains receiving inflated numbers of pollinators due to crowding effects. IntroductionPredicting patterns of species diversity on a landscape scale is an important challenge for conservation biogeography, one that can inform decisions on which land management strategies are most beneficial for the conservation of targeted taxa. Here we propose two contrasting conceptual models explaining how beta diversity can be maintained across a landscape and test these models on a plant-pollinator system in arid South Sinai. Model One predicts that landscape scale diversity will be maintained as distinct assemblages across the habitat with each assemblage supporting novel species (Fig 1 A). In this model you would expect to find high levels of species turnover across the habitat, resulting in high levels of landscape heterogeneity. Model Two predicts that less diverse assemblages of species will form a nested subset of those present in the entire species pool (Fig 1 B). This model predicts low levels of species turnover across the landscape, with a high overlap in the species found between assemblages. Communities of species following the two models would require contrasting conservation strategies; in Model One it would be essential to conserve habitat heterogeneity if you were to benefit all species in the community, but inModel Two the improv...

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An early warning system for flash floods in hyper-arid Egypt

Cited by 94 publications

References 21 publications

Geospatial Analysis for the Determination of Hydro-Morphological Characteristics and Assessment of Flash Flood Potentiality in Arid Coastal Plains: A Case in Southwestern Sinai, Egypt

Geospatial Analysis for the Determination of Hydro-Morphological Characteristics and Assessment of Flash Flood Potentiality in Arid Coastal Plains: A Case in Southwestern Sinai, Egypt

Culturally valuable minority crops provide a succession of floral resources for flower visitors in traditional orchard gardens

Contrasting patterns of turnover between plants, pollinators and their interactions

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