Scientists in Egypt are particularly interested in the sustainable management of water and land resources. Global climate change will have a dramatic impact on the Egyptian water and land resources as well as its coas...Scientists in Egypt are particularly interested in the sustainable management of water and land resources. Global climate change will have a dramatic impact on the Egyptian water and land resources as well as its coastline and agriculture. Egypt is likely to become one of the most vulnerable countries in the world in the next several decades. Many climate scenarios predict that climate change will severely affect rainfall in the Nile basin and the flow of the Nile River in general and the High Aswan Dam Reservoir (HADR) in particular. Global warming and the higher temperatures will lead to higher evaporation rates, which, in turn, will result in less water availability at the HADR. Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation predicts that the evaporation losses will, compared to the mean annual evaporation rates for the last 30 years, be approximately 3% to 10% higher by the year 2100. Since the construction of the High Aswan Dam fifty years ago, high sediment loads are a tremendous problem. 6.6 Billion Cubic Meter (km3) of sediments were deposited in the HADR during this period. The sediment has raised the lakebed level as well as the water level and caused a larger surface area. These developments have decreased the storage capacity of HADR and have increased the evaporation rate. The presented paper investigates the impact of lowering the lakebed by removing sediments from the HADR with a distinct emphasis on evaporation losses. A digital elevation model for the HADR was developed to describe the hydrological characteristics and to assess the consequences of removing sediment deposits. The results show that the removal of sediments will reduce evaporation losses by about 1.1 km3 projected for 2100, which represents 6.5% of the total projected evaporation losses.展开更多
The Lower Saxonian Elbe Valley Biosphere Reserve is part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve “Elbe River Landscape”, and used mainly for agriculture. One of tasks of the Biosphere Reserve Administration is to develop su...The Lower Saxonian Elbe Valley Biosphere Reserve is part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve “Elbe River Landscape”, and used mainly for agriculture. One of tasks of the Biosphere Reserve Administration is to develop sustainable forms of land use which requires comprehensive updated land cover maps. Land use maps are hard to produce because of surveying costs and time. Nevertheless, these large areas need to be monitored. TerraSAR-X images are used to establish agricultural land use maps. In this study, two areas are selected within the Elbe Biosphere Reserve situated around the oxbows Wehninger Werder and Walmsburger Werder. Multi temporal classification methods were used to identify the different crops using maximum likelihood classifier for the years 2010 and 2011. The crop classifications were used to evaluate the effect of the number of images, the necessity of polarizations, and the consequences of some missing images within the crop calendar. These classifications were analyzed to estimate producer accuracy and Kappa index for each crop besides the overall accuracy for each agricultural land use map. The study shows that using dual polarization imagery enhances producer accuracies for many crops over the single polarization imagery, and demonstrates the importance of using frequent images during the cultivation period.展开更多
Egypt is considered as an extremely arid country with annual rainfall under 200 mm within coastal zones. High Aswan Dam Reservoir (HADR) experiences high evaporation losses of 15 BCM/year on average. Meanwhile, the wa...Egypt is considered as an extremely arid country with annual rainfall under 200 mm within coastal zones. High Aswan Dam Reservoir (HADR) experiences high evaporation losses of 15 BCM/year on average. Meanwhile, the water demand is increasing due to rapid population growth. Hence, measurements must be taken to decrease its evaporation losses. This can be achieved through controlling evaporation losses from the shallow lagoons, locally known as khors. The first step in the control process is to model the lake morphology using topographic data. Topographic maps are available for the time span before the construction of the High Aswan DAM (HAD), but they have not been updated. Hence, this study utilized satellite imagery since 1984 to develop a digital elevation model (DEM) that simulated the lake surface area. Correlated water levels were gained from the assembled hydrological database of HADR. This paper reports on the different alternatives for reducing the evaporation losses of two large khors, Kalabsha and El-Alaky, and two small khors, Korosko and Sara. It shows that the developed DEM allows estimation of the different hydrological features of HADR and its khors and recommends some measures to eliminate these khors to save up to 3 BCM by 2100 according to global climate model scenarios.展开更多
Floods are one of the major hazards worldwide. They are the source of huge risks in rural and urban areas, resulting in severe impacts on the civil society, industry and the economy. The Elbe River has suffered from m...Floods are one of the major hazards worldwide. They are the source of huge risks in rural and urban areas, resulting in severe impacts on the civil society, industry and the economy. The Elbe River has suffered from many severe floods during recent decades. In this study, the zones flooded during 2011 were analyzed using TerraSAR-X images and a digital elevation model for the area in order to identify possible ways to mitigate flood hazards in the future, regarding sustainable land-use. Two study areas are investigated, around the Walmsburg oxbow and the Wehningen oxbow. These are located between Elbe-Kilometer (505-520) and (533-543), respectively, within the Lower Saxonian Elbe River Biosphere Reserve. Those areas are characterized by several types of land use, with agricultural land use being predominant. The study investigated the possibility of using a Decision-Tree object-based classifier for determining the major land uses and the extent of the inundation areas. The inundation areas identify for 2011 submerged some agricultural fields that must be added to existing flood risk maps, and future cultivation activities there prevented to avoid the possible economic losses. Furthermore, part of the residential area is located within the high flood zone, and must be included in risk maps to avoid the possible human and economic losses, to achieve sustainable land use for the areas studied.展开更多
In the Schoningen open-pit lignite mine (Northeastern Lower Saxony, Germany),Tertiary strata are unconformably overlain by Quaternary sediments and soils of Middle and LatePleistocene and Holocene age. The complex Ple...In the Schoningen open-pit lignite mine (Northeastern Lower Saxony, Germany),Tertiary strata are unconformably overlain by Quaternary sediments and soils of Middle and LatePleistocene and Holocene age. The complex Pleistocene sequence contains a number ofinterglacial and interstadial deposits and soils and is of scientific importance for Late MiddlePleistocene stratigraphy of Central Europe and because of archeological evidence of early humanoccupation by Home erectus. There is evidence of four interglacials younger than the third-lastglaciation (Elsterian). The classical Holsteinian is followed by the newly discoveredbiostratigraphic unit Reinsdorf, an interglacial complex which contains archeological horizonswith wooden artifacts. Based on paleoecological fauna and flora data, the lithological setting andpreliminary age determinations, the Reinsdorf Interglacial likely correlates with marine isotopestage 9 and the Holsteinian with stage 11.展开更多
Introduction:The benefit of wetlands for reducing poverty depends on the effectiveness of governance systems that influence peoples’behaviour in the wise use of wetlands.Objectives:This article critically analyses th...Introduction:The benefit of wetlands for reducing poverty depends on the effectiveness of governance systems that influence peoples’behaviour in the wise use of wetlands.Objectives:This article critically analyses the current poverty reduction strategies,agrarian policies and economic investments governing wetland usage,especially in Tanzania,with regard to their impact on sustainable Ramsar wetlands management.Methodology:It analyses the management structure,domestic policies and legal framework relating to the protection of wetlands in Tanzania in accordance to the wise use concept of the Ramsar Convention.Outcomes:Tanzanian legal provisions for wetland protection are uncoordinated and too limited in their coverage and scope to sufficiently address the destruction of wetland ecosystems.There is no comprehensive national legal framework to guide sustainable management of Ramsar wetlands in Tanzania as laid out by the Ramsar Convention,which the country ratified in the year 2000.Conclusion:Without a sound legislative and policy-making framework,Tanzanian wetlands and their diverse ecosystem services will continue to degenerate with current strategies of increasing agribusiness and other developmental projects or economic investments.This paper provides critical baseline information to inform decision makers to develop appropriate policy and laws,which promote the wise use of wetlands in Tanzania.展开更多
文摘Scientists in Egypt are particularly interested in the sustainable management of water and land resources. Global climate change will have a dramatic impact on the Egyptian water and land resources as well as its coastline and agriculture. Egypt is likely to become one of the most vulnerable countries in the world in the next several decades. Many climate scenarios predict that climate change will severely affect rainfall in the Nile basin and the flow of the Nile River in general and the High Aswan Dam Reservoir (HADR) in particular. Global warming and the higher temperatures will lead to higher evaporation rates, which, in turn, will result in less water availability at the HADR. Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation predicts that the evaporation losses will, compared to the mean annual evaporation rates for the last 30 years, be approximately 3% to 10% higher by the year 2100. Since the construction of the High Aswan Dam fifty years ago, high sediment loads are a tremendous problem. 6.6 Billion Cubic Meter (km3) of sediments were deposited in the HADR during this period. The sediment has raised the lakebed level as well as the water level and caused a larger surface area. These developments have decreased the storage capacity of HADR and have increased the evaporation rate. The presented paper investigates the impact of lowering the lakebed by removing sediments from the HADR with a distinct emphasis on evaporation losses. A digital elevation model for the HADR was developed to describe the hydrological characteristics and to assess the consequences of removing sediment deposits. The results show that the removal of sediments will reduce evaporation losses by about 1.1 km3 projected for 2100, which represents 6.5% of the total projected evaporation losses.
文摘The Lower Saxonian Elbe Valley Biosphere Reserve is part of the UNESCO Biosphere Reserve “Elbe River Landscape”, and used mainly for agriculture. One of tasks of the Biosphere Reserve Administration is to develop sustainable forms of land use which requires comprehensive updated land cover maps. Land use maps are hard to produce because of surveying costs and time. Nevertheless, these large areas need to be monitored. TerraSAR-X images are used to establish agricultural land use maps. In this study, two areas are selected within the Elbe Biosphere Reserve situated around the oxbows Wehninger Werder and Walmsburger Werder. Multi temporal classification methods were used to identify the different crops using maximum likelihood classifier for the years 2010 and 2011. The crop classifications were used to evaluate the effect of the number of images, the necessity of polarizations, and the consequences of some missing images within the crop calendar. These classifications were analyzed to estimate producer accuracy and Kappa index for each crop besides the overall accuracy for each agricultural land use map. The study shows that using dual polarization imagery enhances producer accuracies for many crops over the single polarization imagery, and demonstrates the importance of using frequent images during the cultivation period.
文摘Egypt is considered as an extremely arid country with annual rainfall under 200 mm within coastal zones. High Aswan Dam Reservoir (HADR) experiences high evaporation losses of 15 BCM/year on average. Meanwhile, the water demand is increasing due to rapid population growth. Hence, measurements must be taken to decrease its evaporation losses. This can be achieved through controlling evaporation losses from the shallow lagoons, locally known as khors. The first step in the control process is to model the lake morphology using topographic data. Topographic maps are available for the time span before the construction of the High Aswan DAM (HAD), but they have not been updated. Hence, this study utilized satellite imagery since 1984 to develop a digital elevation model (DEM) that simulated the lake surface area. Correlated water levels were gained from the assembled hydrological database of HADR. This paper reports on the different alternatives for reducing the evaporation losses of two large khors, Kalabsha and El-Alaky, and two small khors, Korosko and Sara. It shows that the developed DEM allows estimation of the different hydrological features of HADR and its khors and recommends some measures to eliminate these khors to save up to 3 BCM by 2100 according to global climate model scenarios.
文摘Floods are one of the major hazards worldwide. They are the source of huge risks in rural and urban areas, resulting in severe impacts on the civil society, industry and the economy. The Elbe River has suffered from many severe floods during recent decades. In this study, the zones flooded during 2011 were analyzed using TerraSAR-X images and a digital elevation model for the area in order to identify possible ways to mitigate flood hazards in the future, regarding sustainable land-use. Two study areas are investigated, around the Walmsburg oxbow and the Wehningen oxbow. These are located between Elbe-Kilometer (505-520) and (533-543), respectively, within the Lower Saxonian Elbe River Biosphere Reserve. Those areas are characterized by several types of land use, with agricultural land use being predominant. The study investigated the possibility of using a Decision-Tree object-based classifier for determining the major land uses and the extent of the inundation areas. The inundation areas identify for 2011 submerged some agricultural fields that must be added to existing flood risk maps, and future cultivation activities there prevented to avoid the possible economic losses. Furthermore, part of the residential area is located within the high flood zone, and must be included in risk maps to avoid the possible human and economic losses, to achieve sustainable land use for the areas studied.
文摘In the Schoningen open-pit lignite mine (Northeastern Lower Saxony, Germany),Tertiary strata are unconformably overlain by Quaternary sediments and soils of Middle and LatePleistocene and Holocene age. The complex Pleistocene sequence contains a number ofinterglacial and interstadial deposits and soils and is of scientific importance for Late MiddlePleistocene stratigraphy of Central Europe and because of archeological evidence of early humanoccupation by Home erectus. There is evidence of four interglacials younger than the third-lastglaciation (Elsterian). The classical Holsteinian is followed by the newly discoveredbiostratigraphic unit Reinsdorf, an interglacial complex which contains archeological horizonswith wooden artifacts. Based on paleoecological fauna and flora data, the lithological setting andpreliminary age determinations, the Reinsdorf Interglacial likely correlates with marine isotopestage 9 and the Holsteinian with stage 11.
基金This work was supported by the Schlumberger Foundation-Faculty for the Future[-]German Academic Exchange Service(DAAD)[-]grants fellowships.
文摘Introduction:The benefit of wetlands for reducing poverty depends on the effectiveness of governance systems that influence peoples’behaviour in the wise use of wetlands.Objectives:This article critically analyses the current poverty reduction strategies,agrarian policies and economic investments governing wetland usage,especially in Tanzania,with regard to their impact on sustainable Ramsar wetlands management.Methodology:It analyses the management structure,domestic policies and legal framework relating to the protection of wetlands in Tanzania in accordance to the wise use concept of the Ramsar Convention.Outcomes:Tanzanian legal provisions for wetland protection are uncoordinated and too limited in their coverage and scope to sufficiently address the destruction of wetland ecosystems.There is no comprehensive national legal framework to guide sustainable management of Ramsar wetlands in Tanzania as laid out by the Ramsar Convention,which the country ratified in the year 2000.Conclusion:Without a sound legislative and policy-making framework,Tanzanian wetlands and their diverse ecosystem services will continue to degenerate with current strategies of increasing agribusiness and other developmental projects or economic investments.This paper provides critical baseline information to inform decision makers to develop appropriate policy and laws,which promote the wise use of wetlands in Tanzania.
