Experimentation of the new Sentinel missions for the observation of inland water bodies on the course of the Nile River

Joint research project

Project leaders: Andrea Scozzari, Abdelazim Mohamed Abdelhamid Negm
Agreement: EGITTO - ASRT - Academy of Scientific Research and Technology
Call: CNR/ASRT biennio 2018-2019 2018-2019
Department: Engineering, ICT and technologies for energy and transportation
Thematic area: Engineering, ICT and technologies for energy and transportation
Status of the project: New

Research proposal

The Nile River, the longest river in Africa (about 6700 km), has a remarkably modest discharge if compared to other major rivers in the world. Thus, the threats connected with a growing population and development pressure are calling for adequate infrastructures and monitoring (Nader, 2017).
In general, the analysis of lake and reservoir volume dynamics, in terms of both temporal and spatial variability, is particularly useful for water availability studies. Remote sensing techniques, with the ability of covering large spatial areas at relatively frequent temporal intervals, can be broadly applied to the monitoring of inland water bodies through studying their short- and long-term characteristics.
The traditional approach is to use in situ measurements that can be complemented by remote sensing observations, either for cross-validation purposes or for the assessment of poorly gauged or inaccessible resources. Recently, (Abileah et al, 2011) proposed a novel approach completely based on remote sensing, by using a combination of optical imagery and radar altimetry to estimate water storage variations.
The free and open availability of the new Sentinel missions, in the frame of the Copernicus services, opens an unprecedented possibility to make quantitative and qualitative assessments of surface water on a regular basis. The possibilities offered by the missions onboard the Sentinel satellites for inland water studies are not yet deeply evaluated, especially for what regards south-Mediterranean countries.
Thus, this project aims at studying the potentiality of the new ESA Sentinel missions for the observation of inland water bodies, focusing the attention on selected sites along the course of the Nile River. Our investigation regards quantitative assessments, such as surface and volume variations, area-level relationships and discharge estimation.
The project basically consists in a feasibility and evaluation study, beginning with a preliminary investigation about the available missions and data collections, followed by the identification of suitable sites, based on the availability of satellite data and of independent sources of information for validation purposes. These activities will be followed by an evaluation phase, aimed at individuating and evaluating appropriate techniques based on Sentinels' data for the quantitative assessment of the targeted water bodies.
Egyptian inland lakes and rivers are threatened by many environmental problems. Lake Nasser, the biggest and the most important lake in Egypt, located in the southern part of the Nile River in Upper Egypt, has shrunk and/or vanished due to changes in evaporation conditions, significant large and rapid water level variations and sedimentation process, which might influence its storage capacity.
The second environmental problem is the dramatic change in the size and morphology of some inland water bodies, such as the Nile River reaches in Egypt from Aswan high dam to the Delta barrages. These phenomena occurred in the recent decades, influencing the navigable water ways that provide important means of transportation in Egypt.
This proposal wants to contribute to an evaluation of the monitoring possibilities offered by the synergic use of the Sentinel missions in this particular framework, thanks to their combination of spatial resolution, relatively short revisit times, the variety of sensors and the free and public availability of the data. Our attention will be dedicated to the multi-spectral imagers, imaging radiometers and radar altimeters onboard the Sentinels 2A-B, Sentinel 3A and the upcoming Sentinel 3B.
The proposed cooperation is the follow-up of a collaboration between Italian and Egyptian colleagues in the sector of water resources and hydroinformatics, since year 2011 (Vignudelli et al., 2012).
The Egyptian group takes knowledge about the studied domain, together with expertise in hydrological modeling, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), and Machine Learning (ML) methods. The Italian partner has an expertise more focused on remote sensing and data and image analysis.
The principal investigator (PI) of the Egyptian team is the editor of two recently published books by Springer titled "The Nile Delta" and "The Nile River", which are very connected with the topics of the current proposal (Negm, 2017).
The complementarity between the two partners represents an added value, moreover to the degree of novelty and the impact characterizing the proposed activity.
The impact of this project has a twofold aspect, implying both local and global scale effects: i) stimulate local awareness and competences, with applicability to a wider regional scale (particularly in the MENA region); ii) facilitate knowledge advancement about the observational methods with new satellite missions, by using sites that are excellent playgrounds for experimentation, carrying a general scientific interest moreover to the local impact.
1. Nader NM (2017) Nile river biography and its journey from Origin to End, From: Negm A.M. (Ed.) "The Nile River", ISBN 978-3-319-59086-8, pp 1-32, Springer International Publishing, doi: 10.1007/698_2016_107
2. Abileah R, Vignudelli S, Scozzari A (2011) A completely remote sensing approach to monitoring reservoirs water volume, International Water Technology Journal, IWTA, Alexandria, 1 (1), 63-77
3. Vignudelli S, Zaghloul S, Scozzari A, Abileah R (2012) Lessons learned from comparing gauge levels with Landsat and Radar Altimetry observations: Case-Study of Lake Nasser (Egypt). International Water Technology Journal, 2 (1), 26-34
4. Negm AM (2017) The Nile Delta, Series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Vol. 55, Springer International Publishing, ISBN 978-3-319-56122-6, XVII, 537 p., doi:10.1007/978-3-319-56124-0
5. Negm AM (2017) The Nile River, Series: The Handbook of Environmental Chemistry, Vol. 56, Springer International Publishing, ISBN 978-3-319-59086-8, XVII, 741 p., doi:10.1007/978-3-319-59088-2

Research goals

This project will investigate the potential of the ESA Sentinel missions for the observation of inland water bodies, specifically targeted to rivers, natural lakes and artificial reservoirs along the course of the Nile River.
Attention will be focused on selected water bodies in Egypt such as, Lake Nasser, the Nile River reaches from Aswan High Dam to Delta barrages and the two Nile River branches (Damietta and Rosetta branches).
The activities will particularly regard quantitative assessments, focusing on the changes in the size and morphology of the observed inland water bodies, storage variations and discharge estimation, where the operating conditions of the hydraulic context permit such measurements.
The main objectives of this research are the following:
- Perform a preliminary analysis of the potential of the synergic use of the Sentinel missions in a context that is rich of water infrastructures, which may benefit from new monitoring practices.
- Increase the awareness of local stakeholders, water managers and researchers about such monitoring possibilities.
A relevant byproduct of this activity is the encouragement and motivation of local users to build internal competences for the acquisition, processing and archival of EO data for the assessment of surface water bodies on a regular basis. It is also important to note that the regular archival of multispectral radiometric data can support further water quality assessment studies.

Last update: 24/04/2024