scholarly journals Calibration of the depth invariant algorithm to monitor the tidal action of Rabigh City at the Red Sea Coast, Saudi Arabia

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1666-1678
Author(s):  
Mohammed H. Aljahdali ◽  
Mohamed Elhag

AbstractRabigh is a thriving coastal city located at the eastern bank of the Red Sea, Saudi Arabia. The city has suffered from shoreline destruction because of the invasive tidal action powered principally by the wind speed and direction over shallow waters. This study was carried out to calibrate the water column depth in the vicinity of Rabigh. Optical and microwave remote sensing data from the European Space Agency were collected over 2 years (2017–2018) along with the analog daily monitoring of tidal data collected from the marine station of Rabigh. Depth invariant index (DII) was implemented utilizing the optical data, while the Wind Field Estimation algorithm was implemented utilizing the microwave data. The findings of the current research emphasis on the oscillation behavior of the depth invariant mean values and the mean astronomical tides resulted in R2 of 0.75 and 0.79, respectively. Robust linear regression was established between the astronomical tide and the mean values of the normalized DII (R2 = 0.81). The findings also indicated that January had the strongest wind speed solidly correlated with the depth invariant values (R2 = 0.92). Therefore, decision-makers can depend on remote sensing data as an efficient tool to monitor natural phenomena and also to regulate human activities in fragile ecosystems.

Author(s):  
D. Varade ◽  
O. Dikshit

<p><strong>Abstract.</strong> Snow cover characterization and estimation of snow geophysical parameters is a significant area of research in water resource management and surface hydrological processes. With advances in spaceborne remote sensing, much progress has been achieved in the qualitative and quantitative characterization of snow geophysical parameters. However, most of the methods available in the literature are based on the microwave backscatter response of snow. These methods are mostly based on the remote sensing data available from active microwave sensors. Moreover, in alpine terrains, such as in the Himalayas, due to the geometrical distortions, the missing data is significant in the active microwave remote sensing data. In this paper, we present a methodology utilizing the multispectral observations of Sentinel-2 satellite for the estimation of surface snow wetness. The proposed approach is based on the popular triangle method which is significantly utilized for the assessment of soil moisture. In this case, we develop a triangular feature space using the near infrared (NIR) reflectance and the normalized differenced snow index (NDSI). Based on the assumption that the NIR reflectance is linearly related to the liquid water content in the snow, we derive a physical relationship for the estimation of snow wetness. The modeled estimates of snow wetness from the proposed approach were compared with in-situ measurements of surface snow wetness. A high correlation determined by the coefficient of determination of 0.94 and an error of 0.535 was observed between the proposed estimates of snow wetness and in-situ measurements.</p>


2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiang Liu ◽  
Fan Yu ◽  
Dandan Liu ◽  
Jing Tian ◽  
Weicheng Zhang ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (16) ◽  
pp. 2660
Author(s):  
Philip Marzahn ◽  
Swen Meyer

Land Surface Models (LSM) have become indispensable tools to quantify water and nutrient fluxes in support of land management strategies or the prediction of climate change impacts. However, the utilization of LSM requires soil and vegetation parameters, which are seldom available in high spatial distribution or in an appropriate temporal frequency. As shown in recent studies, the quality of these model input parameters, especially the spatial heterogeneity and temporal variability of soil parameters, has a strong effect on LSM simulations. This paper assesses the potential of microwave remote sensing data for retrieving soil physical properties such as soil texture. Microwave remote sensing is able to penetrate in an imaged media (soil, vegetation), thus being capable of retrieving information beneath such a surface. In this study, airborne remote sensing data acquired at 1.3 GHz and in different polarization is utilized in conjunction with geostatistics to retrieve information about soil texture. The developed approach is validated with in-situ data from different field campaigns carried out over the TERENO test-site “North-Eastern German Lowland Observatorium”. With the proposed approach a high accuracy of the retrieved soil texture with a mean RMSE of 2.42 (Mass-%) could be achieved outperforming classical deterministic and geostatistical approaches.


Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 417 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohamed Abdelkareem ◽  
Fathy Abdalla ◽  
Samar Y. Mohamed ◽  
Farouk El-Baz

At present, the Arabian Peninsula is one of the driest regions on Earth; however, this area experienced heavy rainfall in the past thousand years. During this period, catchments received substantial amounts of surface water and sustained vast networks of streams and paleolakes, which are currently inactive. The Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS) Phased Array Type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) data reveal paleohydrologic features buried under shallow aeolian deposits in many areas of the ad-Dawasir, Sahba, Rimah/Batin, and as-Sirhan wadis. Optical remote-sensing data support that the middle of the trans-peninsula Wadi Rimah/Batin, which extends for ~1200 km from the Arabian Shield to Kuwait and covers ~200,000 km2, is dammed by linear sand dunes formed by changes in climate conditions. Integrating Landsat 8 Operational Land Imager (OLI), Geo-Eye, Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) digital elevation model, and ALOS/PALSAR data allowed for the characterization of paleodrainage reversals and diversions shaped by structural and volcanic activity. Evidence of streams abruptly shifting from one catchment to another is preserved in Wadi ad-Dawasir along the fault trace. Volcanic activity in the past few thousand years in northern Saudi Arabia has also changed the slope of the land and reversed drainage systems. Relics of earlier drainage directions are well maintained as paleoslopes and wide upstream patterns. This study found that paleohydrologic activity in Saudi Arabia is impacted by changes in climate and by structural and volcanic activity, resulting in changes to stream direction and activity. Overall, the integration of radar and optical remote-sensing data is significant for deciphering past hydrologic activity and for predicting potential water resource areas.


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