An integrated web mapping solution to assess the effect of SLR on the northern coast of Egypt: EGSLR

Abstract

In its 2007 assessment, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) declared the Nile Delta one of three sites on Earth that are most vulnerable to sea level rise (SLR). The Panel projected that the global average surface temperature will increase by 1 to 3.5C with an associated rise in sea level of 15 to 95cm by 2100. Several recent assessments suggest this figure could be much higher. In one study that considered the impact of a 1m SLR for 84 developing countries, Egypt was ranked the 2nd highest with respect to the coastal population affected, 3rd highest for coastal GDP affected and 5th highest for proportion of urban areas affected. In this chapter we present a methodology to build an integrated web map solution (EGSLR) to access the effect of the SLR scenarios on the northern coast of Egypt. EGSLR covers the area from Alexandria to Port Said which extends to about 285 kilometres along the Mediterranean coast. The overall objective of the EGSLR is to develop a web vulnerability mapping solution to study the different sea level rise scenarios and to identify and map the areas that are most vulnerable to SLR on the Nile Delta coast. Four scenarios are implemented to assess the impact of SLR, for 25 cm, 50 cm, 75 cm and 100 cm.