Real-Time Remote Sensing for Early Warning
& Mitigation of Disasters & Epidemics:
The Kamal Ewida Earth Observatory (KEEO)
SfP 983168
PPD: Prof. Dr. Magdy Abdel Wahab – Cairo University, Egypt
NPD: Gilbert L. Rochon, Ph. D.,MPH – Purdue University, USA
Presentation before the NATO SfP
Expert Panel on Environmental SecurityNATO HQ Brussels, Belgium June 2, 2008
Dr. Mohammed Kamal Tolba Ewida
• Dean, Faculty of
Engineering- Zagazig
University, Sharkia, Egypt
• Delegate from Egypt to
the NATO CCMS Pilot
Study on Clean Products
& Processes
• Project Coordinator, 1st
Phase- eLearning
System for Water &
Environmental Studies
Departed Nov. 4, 2006
(eSWES)
NATO Science for Peace Project
• REAL-TIME REMOTE SENSING FOR
EARLY WARNING & MITIGATION OF
DISASTERS & EPIDEMICS
– Geostationary Groundstation at Al Azhar
University – European Space Agency’s
Meteosat
– Tracking Groundstation at Cairo University for
NOAA AVHRR, NASA Terra MODIS & Aqua
MODIS, Chinese Space Agency’s FENG
YUN, INPE-Brazil’s CBERS & Egypt-NARSS
EgyptSat I
NATO SfP KEEO Project Team
Right to Left:
M.Shokr (Environment Canada)
Magdy Wahab (PPD-Cairo U.)
M. Atef (Aero/Astro-Cairo U.)
Gülay Altay (KOERI)
G.Rochon (NPD-Purdue U.)
Okan Ersoy (Purdue U.)
Gamal El Afandi(COO-Al Azhar U.)
Mitigation Problems to be Addressed
• Natural Disasters
–
–
–
–
–
–
Earthquakes
Storms & Flooding
Wild Fires
Drought & Desertification
Epidemics & Epizootics
Crop Failure, Famine & Food Insecurity
• Anthropogenic Disasters
– Unintentional
• Oil & Chemical Spills
• Air Pollution & Water Pollution
– Deliberate
• Terrorist Incidents
Disaster Management Stages:
Remote Sensing Contributes at each Stage
• Vulnerability Assessment & Remediation
• Disaster Preparedness, Drills &
Simulations
• Early Warning
• Emergency Response, Search & Rescue
• Humanitarian Relief
• Recovery
• Post-Disaster Reconstruction
Current Status of Technology
•
•
•
•
EgyptSat I
Existing Groundstations
Need for Academic Community Access
Fiber Optic Backbone Among Egyptian
Universities
• Archival & Real-Time Data
• Collaborative Ties with other Data
Providers, Spatial Data Scientists & EndUsers within Governmental Ministries,
Multi-Lateral Agencies & Universities
Goals of the Project
• To establish two groundstations for real-time satellite
remote sensing in Cairo, Egypt, a geostationary
groundstation for ESA Meteosat at Al Azhar University
and a tracking groundstation at Cairo University,
initially for NOAA AVHRR, NASA MODIS Terra &
Aqua and EgyptSat I.
• To provide training for faculty, students and Ministry
staff & scientific curricular enhancement for utilization
of this technology for disaster mitigation, food security,
disease vector habitat monitoring and environmental
sustainability.
• To collaborate with end-users in research and in
supporting operational disaster management & data
product dissemination.
Novel Characteristics
• Provides real-time data from satellite remote sensing
to Egypt’s academic community for the first time.
• Establishes critical redundancy during over-flight
conflicts for data acquisition with Egypt’s National
Authority for Remote Sensing & Space Sciences
• Enables Research on Vulnerability Assessment &
Best Management Practices for Disaster Mitigation,
Early Warning, Humanitarian Response & Recovery
within the Egyptian & Regional Contexts
• Provides training and career opportunities for faculty &
students addressing applications of space-based
technologies for sustainable development, food
security & public safety at two Egyptian Universities,
with a combined total enrollment of 700,000 students.
Scientific Activities
• Collaborative research between the NATO SfP
Partnering Universities and the WHO Regional
Office, based in Cairo, to integrate real-time
remote sensing & meteorological data with
medical ecology data and epidemiological data,
so as to identify, map and monitor infectious
disease vector habitat, for timely intervention.
• Collaborative interdisciplinary research on the
contributing causes , potential mitigating factors
& best management practices associated with
an array of biogenic & anthropogenic disasters
& on the optimal use of remote sensing tools.
Deliverables/Milestones
• Bid Specifications/Solicitation & Installation of
Groundstations in first quarter of 2009.
• Implementation of Data Dissemination &
Collaborative Research with Ministries, MultiLateral Agencies and Academic Departments.
• Relevant Curricular Enhancement &Training
for Faculty, Students & End-Users
• Development of a Hub for Broader Access to
Near-Real-Time Data Product Distribution
• Video Documentary on the NATO SfP KEEO
Collaboration among institutions in Egypt,
Turkey & the USA.
Quantified Criteria for Success
• Successful Vendor Selection and Installation of
2 Groundstations during First Quarter, 2009.
• Real-Time Acquisition of ESA Meteosat Data
24 hrs./day 7 days/week
• Real-Time Acquisition of data from at least 3
polar orbiting satellites (e.g NASA MODIS Terra
& Aqua, NOAA AVHRR, CBERS, Feng Yun &
EgyptSat I) & Near-Real-Time Data Transfer
• Operational Data Utilization by 2 Ministries and
1 UN Agency for Disaster Mitigation.
Quantified Criteria for Success Continued
• Training Established for 5 end-users, 10 faculty
and 40 students in application of remote
sensing applications for disaster mitigation
• 10-15 minute video documentary completed on
the collaboration among NATO sponsored
universities in Egypt, Turkey and the USA with
their regional end-users of remotely sensed
data for disaster early warning & mitigation.
• A Disaster-Mitigation Hub established in FY 2
• Publication of 2 peer reviewed journal articles
and presentation at 2 major conferences/year
Institutes Involved & Their Expertise
• Cairo University – Giza, Egypt
– Meteorology, Storms, Flooding
– Aerospace Engineering, Technology & Applications
• Al Azhar University – Nasr City, Egypt
– Meteorology, Drought, Desertification
– Environmental Hazard Remediation
• Boğaziçi University – Istanbul, Turkey
– Kandilli Observatory & Earthquake Research Institute
– Disaster Monitoring, Mitigation & In Situ Sensing
• Purdue University – W. Lafayette, Indiana, USA
– Purdue Terrestrial Observatory & Public Health Applications
– Remote Sensing & High Performance Computing
– Sustainable Development & Environmental Sustainability
Cairo University
• Centennial Anniversary
on Dec. 21, 2008
• Student Enrollment
200,000
• Partner Country Project
Director-PPD:
Prof. Dr. M. Magdy Abdel
Wahab, Chair, Dept. of
Meteorology & Astronomy,
Faculty of Science
• Al Azhar University
was founded 988 A.D.1,020 years old in 2008 2nd
oldest continuous
• Al Azhar University
university after the
University of Al Karaouine
in Fes, Morocco, [859
A.D.].
• Multi-Campus Student
Enrollment: 500,000
• Project Co-Director: Dr.
Gamal El Afandi, Dept. of
Meteorology & Astronomy,
Faculty of Science
Boğaziçi University- Kandilli
Observatory
& Earthquake Research Institute
(KOERI)
• Founded in 1868 in
Istanbul, Turkey, during the
reign of Abdülâziz, the
32nd Sultan of the Ottoman
Empire
• Project Co-Director, Prof.
Dr. Gülay Altay, Director,
KOERI
Purdue University-W. Lafayette, Indiana USA
Founded 1869
69,000 students
Multi-Campus
• Purdue
Terrestrial
Observatory
NATO Country Project
Director (NPD):
Dr. Gilbert Rochon
Co-Director: Dr. Okan Ersoy
Project Management
KEEO ADVISORY
BOARD
Collaborators/End-Users
• Dr. Mohamed A. Fawzi, Director, Crisis &
Disaster Management Sector, Office of the
Prime Minister
• Prof. Dr. Ayman El-Dessouki, Chairman
National Authority for Remote Sensing &
Space Sciences (NARSS) & Eng. Belal M.
Elleithy, Ground Receiving Manager,
NARSS
• Prof. Dr. Ayman Abu Hadid, President,
Agricultural Research Center
Collaborators/End Users
• Altaf S. Musani, MPH,Regional Advisor, Emergency
Preparedness & Humanitarian Action, WHO
• Babiker Abdalla Ibrahim, Ph.D., Regional Project
Coordinator (Egypt, Sudan & Ethiopia) Flood
Preparedness & Early Warning-Eastern Nile Technical
Office (ENTRO)
• Prof. Dr. Mostafa M. Emara, Director, Science Center
for Detection & Remediation of Environmental
Hazards (SCDREH) Al Azhar University
• Prof. Dr. Mortada Mourad El-Aref, Director, Basel
Convention Regional Training Center & Director, Cairo
Univ. Center for Environmental Hazard Mitigation
End-Users & Their Contributions
• NARSS- Egypt’s Space Agency is contributing
the expertise of its Aswan Ground Station
Manager, access to data from EgyptSat I, joint
sharing of data archives & critical redundancy in
data collection for orbital conflicts & disaster
mitigation.
• Ministry of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research
Center is offering access to their laboratories
for ground reference information (e.g. analysis
of soil, vegetation, water & insect vector
samples).
End-Users/Collaborators
• Office of the Prime Minister- is committed to fully
integrating data from the NATO SfP KEEO into their
disaster planning, simulation, mitigation & response
activities & to provide fellowships for junior faculty and
internships for students to obtain operational
experience and service learning.
• The WHO Regional Office has welcomed the KEEO
team to collaborate in research to develop a spatial
database incorporating real-time data on disease
vector habitat.
• ENTRO will partner with KEEO on its World-Bank
supported Nile Flooding project, sharing data &
technical personnel.
Distribution of NATO SfP Funding
EGYPT: 255K Euros
TURKEY: 22.5K Euros
USA:
22.5K Euros
TOTAL: 300K Euros
How Possible NATO Funding will
change the previous research at the
partnering Universities in Egypt
• Cairo University
•
• Greatly encourage
•
multi-disciplinary
research & a focus on
remote sensing
applications for
disaster preparedness
& environmental
hazards, jointly with
the Basel Convention.
Al Azhar University
Significantly impact
closer ties among
faculties &departments
as well as stronger
interactions with UN
agencies/governmental
ministries for applied
research collaborations
& simulation exercises.
PROJECT STRENGTHS &
OPENESS ISSUES
• The project benefits from a coalition of
exceptionally strong research universities in
Egypt, Turkey & the USA
• The project has established high level
commitment from key government ministries in
Egypt, regional offices of the UN and
established operatives in both the remote
sensing & disaster mitigation communities.
• The project is offering its raw data freely to
other universities & will develop a hub for wide
dissemination of standard data products
PROJECT’S CONTRIBUTION TO
STABILITY, SECURITY & PEACE
• NATO SfP support of this KEEO project will
directly enable:
– Real-time remote sensing applications for a wide
array of time-critical events, including natural and
man-made disasters, public health emergencies,
and food security issues
– Closer on-going collaboration between the
academic community, governmental ministries and
multi-lateral agencies charged with public safety,
peaceful resolution of conflict, regional
environmental sustainability and sustainable
development.
Equal Opportunity Technology:
Applications in Africa, Asia & Latin America
• Famine Early Warning (FEWS) Project & Food Security
• Africa Real-Time Environmental Monitoring Information
System (ARTEMIS)
• African Association for Remote Sensing of Environment
(AARSE)
• Precision Agriculture & Water Resources Conservation
• Coastal Zone Morphology
• Regional Impact of Climate Change
• Forest Resource Assessment
• Biodiversity & Natural Resource Management
• Sustainable Industrial Development Infectious Disease
Vector Habitat Identification
http://modland.nascom.nasa.gov/galler
y/
?Korea.A2000097.0235.825x1075.jpg
MODIS Image:
6, 2000
Korea
36 Bands
April
Moderate Resolution Imaging
Spectro-Radiometer (MODIS)
NOAA AVHRR- UN FAO- ARTEMIS
FEWS & Desert LocustSchistocerca gregaria
• DOC NOAA- US Dept of
Commerce, National Oceanic
& Atmospheric
Administration
– AVHRR – Advanced Very
High Resolution
Radiometer
HRPT – High Resolution
Picture Transmission
• GAC- Global Area
Coverage (4 km)
• LAC- Local Area
Coverage (1.1 km)
UN FAO ARTEMIS
Egypt from Space
Need for Moderate
Resolution & High
Resolution Data