Are the Egyptian Coastal Lakes Sustainable? A Comprehensive Review Based on Remote Sensing Approach

Abstract

Lakes play pivotal roles in the biological and environmental systems and prove several ecosystem facilities. Unfortunately, in Egypt, there are many factors which directly or indirectly threaten the ecological system of the Egyptian coastal lakes (lakes Mariout, Edku, Burullus, Manzala, and Bardawil). For example, reduction of water bodies, deterioration of water quality, eutrophication, and climate changes are among the present common challenges. These challenges may potentially act against the sustainability of the coastal lakes. The use of the remote sensing (RS) data offers a better perception of analyzing water bodies (water quality and lake ecology) by providing synoptic and spatiotemporal ideas to help in assessing their present conditions. Moreover, it will promote the lakes sustainability by implementing the needed measures. This chapter provides an updated review of the present literature that applied the remote sensing (RS) technique for monitoring and assessing the sustainability conditions of the Egyptian coastal lakes. It covers different areas such as extracting lake surface areas and their changes, examining lake bathymetry (levels), and monitoring lake water quality. Meanwhile, a review of the worldwide-related studies is presented. The present chapter concluded that most of the Egyptian coastal lakes are suffering from lack of sustainability. In addition, urgent actions from the concerning authorities should be taken shortly to maintain the sustainability of these lakes.