Author(s)

Basem Elsaka^1,2*, Ali M. Radwan², Mohamed Rashwan²

¹Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformation, University of Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
²National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG), Helwan, Cairo, Egypt.

Sinking of the Nile Delta region of Egypt is one of urgent issues to be investigated due to its vital importance to numerous perspectives such as economic, environmental and social impact on the whole Egyptian territory. This contribution represents one of the project outcomes entitled “Evaluation of Nile Delta Sinking Hypothesis Using the Global Positioning System (GPS), Tide Gauge and Satellite Altimetry and Gravity Techniques” that has been funded by the Science & Technology Development FUND (STDF), Egypt in the period from 2013 till 2017. To detect the rates of the horizontal and vertical movements, three main geodetic techniques; Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements of Delta region, time-varying gravity models of the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission to monitor the temporal changes over the delta regions and satellite altimetry time series have been used. Our findings regarding the GPS technique show that the northern part of the Nile Delta region suffers from clear subsidence especially at the eastern and western side as represented by Port Said, Mansoura, Gamalyia, Alexandria and Edfena stations. The central part as well as the surrounding areas of Nile Delta suffers from clear uplift as represented by Tanta, Damnhour and Hamoul stations. Satellite gravity results show erosion rates of the conjunction part of Nile Delta and Mediterranean contact, especially at its eastern (Port Said surrounding areas) and western (Alexandria surrounding areas) parts. As we go inland to the southern part of the Nile Delta, the temporal gravity variations pattern decreases showing that the Delta subsidence follows the regular subsidence pattern, except that for the northern contact part of the Delta to the Mediterranean Sea. This is also supported by satellite altimetry missions which shows a continuously rising rate of the Mediterranean Sea level as detected from the Saral/AltiKa mission.

Delta Subsidence, Deformation Parameters, Temporal Gravity Changes, Satellite Altimetry

Elsaka, B. , Radwan, A. and Rashwan, M. (2020) Evaluation of Nile Delta-Mediterranean Sea Conjunction Using GPS, Satellite-Based Gravity and Altimetry Datasets. Journal of Geoscience and Environment Protection, 8, 33-46. doi: 10.4236/gep.2020.82003.