On the Use of Radar and Optical Satellite Imagery for the Monitoring of Flood Hazards on Heritage Sites in Southern Sinai, Egypt

Wael Attia, Dina Ragab, Atef M. Abdel-Hamid, Aly M. Marghani, Abdelaziz Elfadaly and Rosa Lasaponara
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Wael Attia: National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Cairo 1564, Egypt
Dina Ragab: National Research Centre, Cairo 12622, Egypt
Atef M. Abdel-Hamid: Faculty of Arts, Cairo University, Cairo 12613, Egypt
Aly M. Marghani: Faculty of Arts, Benha University, Benha 13511, Egypt
Abdelaziz Elfadaly: National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Cairo 1564, Egypt
Rosa Lasaponara: Italian National Research Council, C.da Santa Loja, Tito Scalo, 85050 Potenza, Italy

Sustainability, 2022, vol. 14, issue 9, 1-15

Abstract: This study focuses on the use of radar and optical satellite imagery for flood hazard mapping and monitoring around the archaeological sites of the Wadi Baba area, situated at Sinai (Egypt) and well known for its heritage treasures belonging to diverse historical periods and civilizations from the Pharaonic, Nabateans, Christian, and Islamic eras. Although this area is located in an arid to semi-arid climatic region, it is intermittently flooded due to torrential rainstorms. To assess the amount of rainfall expected and its impacts on heritage sites, satellite Sentinel-1 (C-Band) and Tropical Rainfall Monitoring Mission (TRMM) data were jointly used with measurements from meteorological stations and the Digital Elevation Model (DEM) from Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM). Envi5.1, ArcGIS 10.4.1, Snap 6.0, and the GEE platform were used to process optical and radar data, which were further analysed using the ArcHydro model. In this study, the TRMM accumulated rainfall data acquired on 17 January 2010, Sentinel-1 radar images between 2017 and 2019, and Sentinel-1 data captured from 1 to 30 March 2020 processed by GEE platform were chosen to assess the effects of flood events on the archaeological sites in the study area. The results indicated that the study area is exposed to flood risk that significantly threatens these heritage sites. Based on that, mitigation strategies were devised and recommended to mitigate the flood hazard impact around the archaeological areas.

Keywords: flood hazards; Sentinel-1 data; cultural heritage management; archaeological sites’ sustainability (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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