Assessments of Environmental Sensitivity to Desertification in Ber El-Abd area, North Sinai, Egypt Using MEDALUS Model
Abd El-Hameed, H., Marzouk, E., Abdo, M., Abdelmontaleb, A. (2020). Assessments of Environmental Sensitivity to Desertification in Ber El-Abd area, North Sinai, Egypt Using MEDALUS Model. EKB Journal Management System, 9(2), 169-182. doi: 10.21608/sinjas.2020.36002.1001
Hend Hussien Abd El-Hameed; Ezzat R. Marzouk; Mohamed Ragab Abdo; Abdel-Aziz Belal Abdelmontaleb. "Assessments of Environmental Sensitivity to Desertification in Ber El-Abd area, North Sinai, Egypt Using MEDALUS Model". EKB Journal Management System, 9, 2, 2020, 169-182. doi: 10.21608/sinjas.2020.36002.1001
Abd El-Hameed, H., Marzouk, E., Abdo, M., Abdelmontaleb, A. (2020). 'Assessments of Environmental Sensitivity to Desertification in Ber El-Abd area, North Sinai, Egypt Using MEDALUS Model', EKB Journal Management System, 9(2), pp. 169-182. doi: 10.21608/sinjas.2020.36002.1001
Abd El-Hameed, H., Marzouk, E., Abdo, M., Abdelmontaleb, A. Assessments of Environmental Sensitivity to Desertification in Ber El-Abd area, North Sinai, Egypt Using MEDALUS Model. EKB Journal Management System, 2020; 9(2): 169-182. doi: 10.21608/sinjas.2020.36002.1001

Assessments of Environmental Sensitivity to Desertification in Ber El-Abd area, North Sinai, Egypt Using MEDALUS Model

Sinai Journal of Applied Sciences
Article 4, Volume 9, Issue 2, August 2020, Page 169-182  XML PDF (974.11 K)
DOI: 10.21608/sinjas.2020.36002.1001
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Authors
Hend Hussien Abd El-Hameed email orcid 1; Ezzat R. Marzoukorcid 1; Mohamed Ragab Abdoorcid 1; Abdel-Aziz Belal Abdelmontaleb2
1Dept. Soil and Water, Fac. Environ. Agric. Sci., Arish Univ., Egypt.
2Dept. Soil, National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sci.. Cairo, Egypt.
Abstract
North Sinai, desertification risk is one of the main environmental and also social and economic problems. This study aims to use geospatial information to assess the environmental sensitivity for desertification in Ber El-Abd area, North Sinai, Egypt. Based on the Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) approach and the characteristics of the study area. This model could provide a valuable quantitative assessment of environmental sensitivity to desertification. It also could support decision makers with important information that could help in protecting and sustaining natural resources. Five main indicators of desertification including soil (soil depth, soil texture, electrical conductivity, rock fragments, drainage, calcium carbonate), climate (rainfall, evapotranspiration, aridity index), vegetation (erosion protection, drought resistance, plant cover), erosion (wind erosion, water erosion) and management (land use, grazing intensity, policy and management) were considered for estimating the environmental sensitivity to desertification. Arc-GIS 10.4.1 and ENVI 5.4 Softwares were used for assessing the desertification sensitive index, of which the map of environmentally areas of the north Sinai Peninsula is produced. The obtained data reveals that 47.9%of north Sinai is characterized by very sensitive areas to desertification, sensitive areas about 1.1%, while the low sensitive areas only 6%. The moderately sensitive areas occupies approximately 4.8% of the study area.
Keywords
North Sinai; GIS; Remote sensing; Desertification sensitivity; MEDALUS
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