Farag, M. (2009). Study on the Spatial and Temporal distributions of Physical Parameters at El Mex and Western Harbour areas, Alexandria,Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 13(2), 17-34. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2009.2030
Magdy Farag. "Study on the Spatial and Temporal distributions of Physical Parameters at El Mex and Western Harbour areas, Alexandria,Egypt". Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 13, 2, 2009, 17-34. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2009.2030
Farag, M. (2009). 'Study on the Spatial and Temporal distributions of Physical Parameters at El Mex and Western Harbour areas, Alexandria,Egypt', Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 13(2), pp. 17-34. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2009.2030
Farag, M. Study on the Spatial and Temporal distributions of Physical Parameters at El Mex and Western Harbour areas, Alexandria,Egypt. Egyptian Journal of Aquatic Biology and Fisheries, 2009; 13(2): 17-34. doi: 10.21608/ejabf.2009.2030
Study on the Spatial and Temporal distributions of Physical Parameters at El Mex and Western Harbour areas, Alexandria,Egypt
Department of Oceanography, Faculty of Science, Univ. of Alexandria, Alexandria, Egypt.
Abstract
The western coastal water of Alexandria is affected by different drainage sources from land. This area receives fresh and brackish water from El-Mex pumping station and El-Noubareya Canal respectively. Also, domestic sewage and industrial wastes are discharged into the sea area of El-Mex and Western Harbour of Alexandria. The main objective of this paper is to study the spatial and temporal changes of El-Mex and Western Harbour waters and monitor the plumes of different pollutants with accepted level of accuracy for practical control. This task could be executed by applying Principal Component Analysis (PCA) technique to some physical observations of sea water (temperature, salinity, density and dissolved oxygen). The resulted PCAs from different layers of temperature, salinity, density and dissolved oxygen distributions (horizontal and vertical) showed three dominant water masses. The first water mass was found close to the shore and covered most of the water column inside the Western Harbour. Also, it extended far from the shore line to cover most of the surface layer. The second one was found at El-Dekhilla area and distributed to the northern and eastern directions. The third one was found at El-Mex Bay water, nearly covered the subsurface water and extended to offshore water. Other water masses depend on the spatial variations. The PCAs showed that the water masses and circulation pattern inside the Western Harbour and at El-Mex Bay could be highly identified. Also, different plumes of pollutants that are discharged from land into sea could be monitored clearly.