Drought monitoring in the Southeastern Mediteranean Basin using satellite data

Multi resolution satellite data has been applied to monitor changes in vegetation cover, as an indicator for drought occurrence, in the northeastern region of the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt, (Southeastern Mediterranean Basin). NOAA-AVHRR Pathfinder data of 8.0 km ground resolution collected in the period between 1981 and 1994, have been used to study changes in land cover at regional level. A pilot area in the North Sinai Peninsula has been selected for detailed studies using NOAA-AVHRR 1.1 km ground resolution, SPOT-4 vegetation, Landsat-5 TM, Landsat-7 ETM, SPOT-Panchromatic and IRS satellite data. Interpretation of remote sensing data investigation using a series of NOAA-AVHRR, field measurements and meteorological information were the tools used to predict drought. This study is a part of the investigation carried out by the Egyptian team in the frame of WATERMED project sponsored by the European Commission (2000-2003), and carried out jointly by research teams from Spain, France, Denmark and Morocco.