Blue Design for Urban Resilience in Drylands: The Case of Qatar

Grichting, Anna

doi:10.1007/978-3-030-26717-9_9

Cited by 4 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 8 publications

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“…Wadi Jallal is a village in the Al Wakrah municipality of Qatar, with a potential for the occurrence of floods during heavy rainfalls [51]. According to Grichting [52], Wadi Jallal suffers from flooding and experiences a significant amount of water infiltration. This is in agreement with our results regarding the high values of SM in Wadi Jallal.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual Trends of Soil Moisture and Rainfall Flux in an Arid Climate Using Remote Sensing Data

Valipour¹,

Khoshkam²,

Bateni³

et al. 2022

Highlights Sustain.

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The water crisis is still a major issue in Qatar. Seawater desalination has been strongly implemented in the Persian Gulf region. However, it is costly and there is corrosion in piping materials and other equipment. Hence, there is a vital need to detect groundwater resources in Qatar. Various factors affect the variability of groundwater in Qatar including hydrogeological aspects, climate change, drawdown and abstraction, rainwater harvesting, desertification, and population growth. In this study, we employ the Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) Land Data Assimilation System (FLDAS) to monitor annual variations of soil moisture (SM) in the depth of 1–2 m (as an indicator of groundwater) and rainfall flux (RF) from 1982 to 2019. The results show that SM and RF anomalies were positive from 1982 to 2000 (except 1992). In contrast, these anomalies became negative during 2001–2019 (expect 2001 and 2018), implying the drawdown of groundwater resources. Drier years (i.e., negative RF anomaly) in the recent 19 years (2001–2019) reduced SM and led to a negative SM anomaly. The Mukaynis and Wadi Jallal regions (located in Al Rayyan and Al Wakrah municipalities, respectively) had the highest RF and SM from 1982 to 2019. The center-pivot irrigation systems close to the Mukaynis and Wadi Jallal regions indicate their accessibility to groundwater resources in Qatar. Moreover, these regions have the lowest risk of salinization and groundwater vulnerability. In addition, annual trends of groundwater storage (GWS) retrieved from the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) from 2003 to 2019 have been presented. This study is beneficial for detecting and monitoring groundwater resources for the sustainable management of water resources in arid environments.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annual Trends of Soil Moisture and Rainfall Flux in an Arid Climate Using Remote Sensing Data

Valipour¹,

Khoshkam²,

Bateni³

et al. 2022

Highlights Sustain.

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Cities as Ecosystems in the Emirates

Burt,

Campbell,

Judas

2023

A Natural History of the Emirates

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has had dramatic economic and population growth since its 1971 federation, with the built environment, green spaces, water features and other urban amenities growing to support its burgeoning population. These features, in turn, often provide unique habitats and microenvironments for a wide variety of resident and migratory species that benefit from their association with urban ecosystems, both on land and in nearshore coastal environments. While urbanization has undoubtedly caused important environmental challenges that should not be discounted, our growing cities have developed unique and important ecologies, much of which remains underappreciated and understudied in the UAE. Here we summarize the current understanding of urban ecology in the Emirates, providing insights into features that make cities amenable environments for organisms, particularly in the context of the UAE’s extreme environment. We also discuss several representative groups of organisms that benefit from the artificial environments provided by cities in both terrestrial and marine urban settings.

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