Identifying suitable areas for agricultural expansion in the Western Desert of Egypt by multisensor data fusion

A pilot study in a desert plain area near Aswan, Egypt, is currently being conducted to develop new techniques for multisensor data and information integration for land use planning. Such planning efforts are aimed to help alleviate Egypt's growing overpopulation along the Nile River by gradually extending development activities (e.g. agriculture) from the western side of the Nile Valley further toward the west. A multisensor approach is being utilized for water resources exploration, surface sediment characterization and terrain information extraction and integration from a variety of satellite and ground based platforms in order to produce priority maps for land use development activities in El-Gallaba Plain, west of Aswan. A Landsat time series classification shows that past and current agricultural development occurs predominantly along the eastern side of the Nile Valley. However, satellite and ground based radar data indicate that the desert plain area west of the Nile has a great potential for groundwater abstraction that would make this area suitable for agricultural development.