Assessment of sand drift potential along the Nile Valley and Delta using climatic and satellite data

Sand encroachment is a significant environmental hazard prevailing across the western fringes of the Nile Valley and Delta due to the occurrence of many dune fields in the adjacent Western Desert. Climatic data acquired from five meteorological stations were used to assess drifting sand and dune activity along this heavily populated and cultivated region. Dune forms and rates of dune advance were extracted from remotely sensed images. Results showed that wind environment and topography are the significant factors for the distribution of aeolian deposits. Wind energy and sand drift are maximum in the Middle Egypt and minimum west of the Nile Delta. Transverse (barchan) dunes are the dominant throughout the study area. Nevertheless, longitudinal (linear) dunes are observed west of the Nile Delta. The southern one-third of the study area is bordered by an elevated plateau from the west that hinders significant dune clusters from reaching the Nile Valley. Development projects in the contiguous fringes west of the Nile Valley would respond negatively to sand encroachment.