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Using Landsat Data to Assess the Status of Coral Reefs Cover along the Red Sea Coast, Egypt

Received: 29 December 2018     Accepted: 16 February 2019     Published: 14 March 2019
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Abstract

The Egyptian Red Sea coast has experienced rapid development since the 1970’s. In particular, the coastal area near the City of Hurghada has been transformed into a long strip of touristic villages and hotels in this short time span. This is an area that has historically had abundant and diverse coral reef communities. To assess possible impacts on benthic coral reef cover in the region, Landsat satellite data collected over the Red Sea from 1973 through 2015 were analyzed to estimate urban expansion in the Hurghada region, shoreline changes, and changes in coral reef cover over time. A time series of satellite observations using Landsat 1-MSS, Landsat 5-TM, Landsat 7-ETM+, and Landsat 8-OLI was assembled, with images acquired in 1973, 1984, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2010, and 2015. Images were geometrically, radiometrically and atmospherically corrected, and a water-column correction was implemented prior to comparing images to assess change in landcover. The results show that during the last 42 years, the coral reef cover decreased 6.21 Km2 while the built coastal area increased 13.4 Km2. These observations were used to compute total economic value (TEV) of coral reef habitats and the cost of degradation in terms of physical losses of coral reef area which equals about18.63$ Billion.

Published in International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology (Volume 4, Issue 1)
DOI 10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13
Page(s) 17-31
Creative Commons

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, provided the original work is properly cited.

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2019. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Remote Sensing, Landsat, Coral Reefs, Water Quality, Total Economic Value

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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Mostafa Khaled, Frank Muller-Karger, Ahmad Obuid-Allah, Mahmoud Ahmed, Sameh El-Kafrawy. (2019). Using Landsat Data to Assess the Status of Coral Reefs Cover along the Red Sea Coast, Egypt. International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology, 4(1), 17-31. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13

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    ACS Style

    Mostafa Khaled; Frank Muller-Karger; Ahmad Obuid-Allah; Mahmoud Ahmed; Sameh El-Kafrawy. Using Landsat Data to Assess the Status of Coral Reefs Cover along the Red Sea Coast, Egypt. Int. J. Ecotoxicol. Ecobiol. 2019, 4(1), 17-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13

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    AMA Style

    Mostafa Khaled, Frank Muller-Karger, Ahmad Obuid-Allah, Mahmoud Ahmed, Sameh El-Kafrawy. Using Landsat Data to Assess the Status of Coral Reefs Cover along the Red Sea Coast, Egypt. Int J Ecotoxicol Ecobiol. 2019;4(1):17-31. doi: 10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13

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  • @article{10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13,
      author = {Mostafa Khaled and Frank Muller-Karger and Ahmad Obuid-Allah and Mahmoud Ahmed and Sameh El-Kafrawy},
      title = {Using Landsat Data to Assess the Status of Coral Reefs Cover along the Red Sea Coast, Egypt},
      journal = {International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology},
      volume = {4},
      number = {1},
      pages = {17-31},
      doi = {10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.ijee.20190401.13},
      abstract = {The Egyptian Red Sea coast has experienced rapid development since the 1970’s. In particular, the coastal area near the City of Hurghada has been transformed into a long strip of touristic villages and hotels in this short time span. This is an area that has historically had abundant and diverse coral reef communities. To assess possible impacts on benthic coral reef cover in the region, Landsat satellite data collected over the Red Sea from 1973 through 2015 were analyzed to estimate urban expansion in the Hurghada region, shoreline changes, and changes in coral reef cover over time. A time series of satellite observations using Landsat 1-MSS, Landsat 5-TM, Landsat 7-ETM+, and Landsat 8-OLI was assembled, with images acquired in 1973, 1984, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2010, and 2015. Images were geometrically, radiometrically and atmospherically corrected, and a water-column correction was implemented prior to comparing images to assess change in landcover. The results show that during the last 42 years, the coral reef cover decreased 6.21 Km2 while the built coastal area increased 13.4 Km2. These observations were used to compute total economic value (TEV) of coral reef habitats and the cost of degradation in terms of physical losses of coral reef area which equals about18.63$ Billion.},
     year = {2019}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
    T1  - Using Landsat Data to Assess the Status of Coral Reefs Cover along the Red Sea Coast, Egypt
    AU  - Mostafa Khaled
    AU  - Frank Muller-Karger
    AU  - Ahmad Obuid-Allah
    AU  - Mahmoud Ahmed
    AU  - Sameh El-Kafrawy
    Y1  - 2019/03/14
    PY  - 2019
    N1  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13
    DO  - 10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13
    T2  - International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology
    JF  - International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology
    JO  - International Journal of Ecotoxicology and Ecobiology
    SP  - 17
    EP  - 31
    PB  - Science Publishing Group
    SN  - 2575-1735
    UR  - https://doi.org/10.11648/j.ijee.20190401.13
    AB  - The Egyptian Red Sea coast has experienced rapid development since the 1970’s. In particular, the coastal area near the City of Hurghada has been transformed into a long strip of touristic villages and hotels in this short time span. This is an area that has historically had abundant and diverse coral reef communities. To assess possible impacts on benthic coral reef cover in the region, Landsat satellite data collected over the Red Sea from 1973 through 2015 were analyzed to estimate urban expansion in the Hurghada region, shoreline changes, and changes in coral reef cover over time. A time series of satellite observations using Landsat 1-MSS, Landsat 5-TM, Landsat 7-ETM+, and Landsat 8-OLI was assembled, with images acquired in 1973, 1984, 1987, 1992, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2010, and 2015. Images were geometrically, radiometrically and atmospherically corrected, and a water-column correction was implemented prior to comparing images to assess change in landcover. The results show that during the last 42 years, the coral reef cover decreased 6.21 Km2 while the built coastal area increased 13.4 Km2. These observations were used to compute total economic value (TEV) of coral reef habitats and the cost of degradation in terms of physical losses of coral reef area which equals about18.63$ Billion.
    VL  - 4
    IS  - 1
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Institute for Marine Remote Sensing, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, USA

  • Institute for Marine Remote Sensing, College of Marine Science, University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, USA

  • Department of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Assiut University, Assiut, Egypt

  • Department of Marine Science, National Authority for Remote Sensing & Space Science, Cairo, Egypt

  • Department of Marine Science, National Authority for Remote Sensing & Space Science, Cairo, Egypt

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