Identification of impacts on the Egyptian Nile using Remote Sensing and GIS

摘要

Nile River, the longest river in the world, 6,695 km long from its remotest headstream, the Luvironza River in Burundi, central Africa, to its delta on the Mediterranean Sea, NE Egypt. The Nile River islands form an attractive agricultural area characterized with its nightly fertile soils, easy source, and its suitability to a wide range of land use. The present use of these Nile islands does not reach the maximum capability of these resources due to improper land use of these areas.The current study aims at identifying the changes of the Nile course and its islands during the last three decades using remote sensing and GIS techniques in order to provide the scientific bases, which help in planning the most suitable programs of land use, soil management and conservation. Six MSS, eight TM and Eight ETM+ satellite images dated to 1972,1984 and 2002 respectively were used to study the changes occurred during the above-mentioned periods. The study area was divided into five sectors along the Nile River course i.e. Aswan - Qena, Qena - Assiut, Assiut -Qalubia , Qalubia - Damietta and Qalubia - Rosetta . The changes in Nile course from early seventieth to middle eighteenth were decreased by 51.34 Km~2, from middle eighteenth to the millennium were decreased by 40.30 Km~2. The overall change in Nile course area decreased by 91.64 Km~2 in the investigation period. Belonging to the islands number and their areas in the investigation period, the changes in islands number from early seventieth to middle eighteenth were increased by 171 islands, from middle eighteenth to the millennium were decreased by 86 islands. Meanwhile, the islands areas from early seventieth to middle eighteenth were decreased by 4512.39 Feddan., from middle eighteenth to the millennium were decreased by 5446.97 Feddan. The overall change in the investigation period for the total number of the islands was increased by 85 islands, meanwhile the islands areas were decreased by 9959.36 Feddan. Changes of soil characteristics of some islands were recognized. It is found that, there is no regular pattern of the changes that related to soil characteristics due to many reasons i.e. differences in human agricultural practices, differences in Nile deposition, which differ from year to year, and differences in Nile water levels. Conservation and management program was suggested for the optimum use of these islands.