Monitoring Environmental Changes in El-Ain El-Sokhna Area, Gulf of Suez, Egypt
Nine conference for geographical and GIS Department Faculty of Arts, Alexandria University,2007
Prof. Azza Abdallah
Professor of geomorphology – Vice dean for education and student
Faculty of Arts – Benha University
Abstract
El-Ain El-Sokhna area lies on the northwestern part of the Gulf of Suez. This area is characterized by the presence of highly sensitive and fragile natural resources, habitats, wide coastal plain, extensive tidal flat, and its aquatic environment hosting an important coral reef. In recent decades this area has been subject to rapid and increasing changes in land use patterns, particularly with the growth of tourist activities, construction of El-Ain El-Sokhna port, resorts and the subsequent increase of population. Due to the rapid development projects, the area is presently suffering from environmental pollution and loss of some natural resources. This study aims at bringing out the environmental changes in the study area during the period of 1984 till 2002 and investigating their impacts on the ecology and environment of the coastal zone of the Gulf of Suez.
LANDSAT–TM images during the study period were used to conduct this study. They were used to detect analyses and assess the environmental changes due to the rapid development. Digital Elevation Model, slope and aspect maps were used to show topographic and geomorphologic setting of the area. Land-use/land cover maps and change detection map allocate different changes of the environmentally sensitive habitats and natural resources. The GIS tools were used to integrate the results of the applied digital images processing the adopted techniques and the field measurement data with the different digital maps such as, topography and geology maps to assess the environmental changes in the study area.
Analysis of LANDSAT images and land-use/land-cover maps revealed that the total changed area representing 67.48% of the total surface area of coastal zone. The major distinct changes occurring in the study area are due to the extension of urban, tourism activities, transportation, and construction of industrial areas and El-Sokhna Port during the period from 1984 to 2002 which is relatively short. The great increasing of man-made features has more effects seriously on natural resources in the study area. The bio-system covering the coastal zone is poor now and the hydrographic and water quality lie within the expected normal levels. The study area has been threatened by some hazards such as flash floods, earthquakes, salt weathering and pollution.
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