U.S.-Egypt Cooperative Research: Flood Prediction and Water Management for Sinai Peninsula Using Remote Sensing and Distributed Hydrologic Modeling Techniques

项目描述：该项目支持路易斯安那大学拉斐特分校土木工程系Ehab Meselhe博士和埃及开罗水资源研究所(WRRI)Mohamed Abdel Motaleb博士之间的合作研究。该项目将利用先进的分布式建模和遥感数据，在埃及西奈半岛等半干旱环境中提供准确的水文预报。开发的建模方法可以推广到美国和埃及的类似地区。这些地区的水文特征，特别是陆上和渠道入渗过程以及土壤结皮现象，对水文数值模型提出了独特的挑战。从埃及西奈半岛的三个试验性流域获得的水文气象数据将用于建立和校准一个基于物理的分布式水文模型。这项研究将使用国防部的模型--网格地表次表层水文分析(GSSHA)。该模型已成功应用于霍顿型和非霍顿型流域。为了考虑到干旱和半干旱地区发生的复杂物理过程，在此可能需要改进陆上和渠道入渗过程的表述。来自美国和埃及的初级科学家将积极参与项目活动，并将有机会每年前往对方国家进行密切和有效的合作。智力优势：这项研究将解决水文模型的不足，以提供在半干旱环境中可行的山洪暴发预测。研究人员在水文模型的开发和应用方面拥有丰富的经验，其中PI是开发GSSHA水文模型的科学小组的主要成员。预计拟议的研究活动将大大加强针对半干旱环境的GSSHA的制定。这项研究还将更好地利用日益可用的水文气象遥感数据进行洪水预测。广泛的影响包括路易斯安那大学拉斐特分校(EPSCoR机构)土木工程项目(非博士项目)和一个国际工程研究所的教职员工和学生之间的合作。研究活动和成果将被纳入研究生和高级本科工程课程。一名来自埃及的女初级科学家在拟议的活动中发挥了重要作用。该项目还包括关于使用先进的水文建模和遥感数据的培训讲习班。共同努力和交流专业知识将大大改进山洪控制技术以及水管理和保护战略。这将对半干旱环境产生积极的社会和经济影响。总体而言，提高对山洪暴发提供准确预测的能力肯定会减少其对财产和基础设施的破坏性破坏，更重要的是减少对人类生命的破坏。该项目得到了美国-埃及联合基金计划的支持，该计划为两国的科学家和工程师提供资助，以开展这些合作活动。

0513829MeselheProject Description: This project supports a collaborative research between Dr. Ehab Meselhe, Department of Civil Engineering, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Dr. Mohamed Abdel Motaleb, the Egyptian Water Resources Research Institute (WRRI), Cairo, Egypt. The project will utilize advanced distributed modeling and remote sensing data to provide accurate hydrologic predictions in semi-arid environments such as the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt. The developed modeling methodologies are transferable to similar regions in the United States and Egypt. The hydrologic characteristics of these regions, specifically the overland and channels infiltration processes and soil-crusting phenomenon, pose unique challenges to hydrologic numerical models. Hydro-meteorological data available from three experimental watersheds in Sinai, Egypt will be used to setup and calibrate a physically based distributed hydrologic model. The Department of Defense model, Gridded Surface Sub-surface Hydrologic Analysis (GSSHA), will be used in this study. The model has been successfully used in Hortonian and non-Hortonian watersheds. Improvement to the formulation of the overland and channel infiltration processes might be warranted herein in order to account for the complex physical processes that occur in arid and semi-arid regions. Junior scientists from the US and Egypt will be heavily involved in the project activities and will have theopportunity to annually travel to the other country for close and effective cooperation. Intellectual merit: The reseasrch will address deficiencies in hydrologic models to provide viable flash flooding predictions in semiarid environments. The investigators have extensive experience in the development and applications of hydrologic models, where the PI is a lead member of the science team developing the hydrologic model GSSHA. It is anticipated that the proposed research activities will significantly enhance the formulation of GSSHA for semi-arid environments. The research will also result in a better utilization of the increasingly available hydro-meteorological remote sensing data for flood prediction purposes.Broader impacts: These include a partnership between faculty and students from the Civil Engineering Program (non-PhD program) at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette (an EPSCoR institution) and an international engineering research institute. The research activities and results will be incorporated into graduate and upper level undergraduate engineering courses. A female junior scientist from Egypt is playing a significant role in the proposed activities. The project also includes training workshops on the use of advanced hydrologic modeling and remote sensing data. The joint effort and exchange of expertise will result in significant improvements in flash-flood control techniques, and water management and conservation strategies. This will result in positive social and economical impacts for semi-arid environments. Overall, improving the ability to provide accurate predictions of flash floods will certainly reduce their devastating damages to not only properties and infrastructures but more importantly to human lives. This project is being supported under the US-Egypt Joint Fund Program, which provides grants to scientists and engineers in both countries to carry out these cooperative activities.