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Satellite Image Data Integration for Groundwater Exploration in Egypt

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Environmental Remote Sensing in Egypt

Part of the book series: Springer Geophysics ((SPRINGERGEOPHYS))

Abstract

The Egyptian desert, as a part of the Eastern Sahara, is among the driest places on Earth. In the past, this region underwent drastic climatic changes through the alternation of dry and wet conditions. During wet phases, when the rain was plentiful over a prolonged time period, the surface was veined by rivers and dotted by large lakes. The use of microwave and topographic satellite data has led to the identification of sandy buried ancient mega drainage systems, river deltas and lake basins. The long wavelength of radar data, in particular, enabled the penetration of the sands and revealed many of these hidden fluvial basins which represent indisputable evidence of the past pluvial conditions of the region. Many of these basins could hold large groundwater reservoirs as well as oil and natural gas at depth. This study shows that space-data integration is a promising approach that can help significantly in the groundwater exploration efforts in the desert land of Egypt, where freshwater access is essential for the developing of the region.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers and the book editors whose comments have helped to improve the overall quality of this chapter.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of North Carolina Wilmington, 601 S. College Road, Wilmington, NC, 28403, USA

    Eman Ghoneim

  2. Center for Remote Sensing, Boston University, 725 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA, 02215-1401, USA

    Farouk El-Baz

Authors
  1. Eman Ghoneim
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  2. Farouk El-Baz
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Eman Ghoneim .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Engineering Applications Department, National Authority for Remote Sensing and Space Sciences, Cairo, Egypt

    Salwa F. Elbeih

  2. Faculty of Engineering, Zagazig University, Zagazig, Egypt

    Abdelazim M. Negm

  3. P.P. Shirshov Institute of Oceanology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia

    Andrey Kostianoy

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Ghoneim, E., El-Baz, F. (2020). Satellite Image Data Integration for Groundwater Exploration in Egypt. In: Elbeih, S., Negm, A., Kostianoy, A. (eds) Environmental Remote Sensing in Egypt. Springer Geophysics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39593-3_8

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