Project 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 the opportunity 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.
