Pedon 23 - Physical Land Resources - Universiteit Gent

STUDENTS, RESEARCH FELLOWS & TRAINEES
sampling points using outputs of a Bayesian isotope
mixing model in a k-means clustering approach and
performance of the decision tree model as built up in
step 1. The results after conducting the 3 steps indicate
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that isotopes can help to develop a NO 3 source
classification in the absence of expert knowledge.
Dr. Ahmed Youssef Sayed
ABDELKHALEK
Present function and address: Research
Assistant in Water Resources Research
Institute (WRRI), Egypt
Title of Ph.D. thesis: Development of an Early
Warning System for Flash Floods in Wadi Watier –
Sinai Desert
Date of promotion: June 6, 2011
Promoter: W. Bauwens
Curriculum vitae:
Ahmed Youssef Sayed Abdelkhalek was born in Giza,
Egypt in 1976. He received a Bachelor of Science
degree in Civil Engineering from Ain Shams University
in 1999. In 2004, he obtained his Master of Water
Resources Engineering from the “Vrije Universiteit
Brussel” (VUB) and the “Katholieke Universiteit
Leuven” (KULeuven). He has been working for the
Ministry of Water resources and irrigation of Egypt as a
research assistant in Water Resources Research Institute
(WRRI) since 2001. He carried out his Ph.D. research
on “Development of an Early Warning System for Flash
Floods in Wadi Watier-Sinai Desert” at the “Vrije
Universiteit Brussel”, Belgium, from March 2007 to
April 2011.
Abstract:
Flash floods can cause important economic damages in
arid areas and even the loss of lives. The Ph.D. research
contributed to the development and implementation of an
innovative early warning system for flash floods in Wadi
Watier in the South Sinai desert (Egypt): the Flash Flood
Manager (FlaFloM). FlaFloM aims to protect the city of
Nuweiba from the flash-flood hazards and contributes to
the wise use of floodwaters. Intensive hydrological
analyses have been carried out using
hydrometeorological ground station data and satellite
data for the study area, followed by the development of a
custom-built rainfall-runoff hydrologic model. The
rainfall-runoff model transforms the rainfall data into
flows at the outlet of the canyon of Wadi Watier near
Nuweiba City. The hydrologic model is therefore
custom-built - to reflect the arid conditions of the region
and the limited observation data - using MATLAB® and
SIMULINK®. The research also includes a sensitivity
and uncertainty analysis for the developed tools, and the
data used. Variance-based sensitivity and uncertainty
analysis on the FlaFloM results were conducted applying
quasi-Monte Carlo sequences (Latin Hypercube
sampling). The Ph.D. provides a review of this method to
assess sensitivity and uncertainty analysis in arid regions
where rainfall observations and hydrologic stream flow
data are scarce. The research work contributed to the
better understanding of the behaviour of flash floods in
arid and semi-arid regions. The FlaFloM system has
been in operation since December 2009. It is used by the
Crisis and Disaster Management Centre of the South
Sinai governorate. The system resulted in additional time
to spread warnings and take action for the competent
authorities. As such, the system succeeded in providing a
flood warning two days in advance in January 2010 and
protected the city of Nuweiba.
Dr. Wiesam A.A. ESSA
Present function and address: Staff
Member of the Geography Department of
AL-AQSA University, Khan Younis City,
Palestine (Gaza)
Title of Ph.D. thesis: Thermal Subpixel Estimation in
Urban Areas with Spaceborne Sensing
Date of promotion: June 10, 2011
Promoters: O. Batelaan, J. van der Kwast
Curriculum vitae:
Wiesam A.A. Essa was born in Raffah, Gaza Strip –
Palestine, on February 20, 1975. He received the degree
of B.Sc. Environment and Earth Science in February
1997 from Islamic University of Gaza – Palestine, the
degree of Professional Master in Land Degradation and
Conservation Using the Application of Remote Sensing
and GIS in September 2004 from International Institute
for Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation,
ITC – Netherlands. Wiesam is a Staff Member of the
Geography Department of AL-AQSA University (Khan
Younis City – Gaza) since February 2005. Wiesam
worked as Ph.D. student at the Hydrology and
Hydraulic Engineering Department, Vrije Universiteit
Brussel, since July 2008. His main research interests are
in the field of thermal remote sensing imagery
applications, especially thermal downscaling.
Abstract:
Downscaling land surface temperature from thermal
spaceborne imagery is considered as a rather new and
challenging research problem for urban areas while this
research problem has been well investigated for
vegetated areas using different approaches.
Consequently, no methodology is presently available for
bio-physical surface characterization such that
downscaling land surface temperature in heterogeneous
urban areas is feasible. This work therefore contributes
to a better understanding of the thermal physical
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