الفهرس 
CHAPTER IOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 38 |  |  |
| | | from | 38 | | |
Abstract
The climate change has become undoubted phenomenon based on evidences from long-term worldwide observations. These evidences revealed that climate change has profound impacts on physical, biological and human systems (IPCC, WGII, TS, 2007). On the other hand, tracking these changes in our climate could be traced by different analyses of observational data sets, as the annual and seasonal air temperature and rise of the sea level … etc.
Increasing the air temperature could accelerate the rise of sea level, and increase the frequency of storm surges and flooding. In addition, the coastal erosion and other coastal environmental problems resulted from climate changes are expected to pose increasing threats to coastal population, infrastructure, beaches, wetlands, and ecosystems. Unpredictable, and interdependent set of subsystems have become under increasing pressure leading to coastal resources depletion, conflicts between use and natural ecosystems degradation (Torresan et al., 2010). The impact assessment analyses should be performed over the local or regional level of coastal vulnerability conditions that could be estimated by physical, environmental, and socioeconomic information.
The Nile delta coastal zone is expected to be one of the most important low-lying deltas that has been severely impacted by the rise of sea level and its related impacts. Coastal inundation, destruction of infrastructure and land cover and displacement of millions of people are among several impacts of rising sea level on the Nile Delta Coastal Zone.
Investigating changes in long-term air temperature can reveal evidence of the already existing impacts of climate changes. Studying the storm surges and their driving forces could be useful in assessing the real severity of rising sea level. While, implementing risk assessment analysis and evaluating shoreline retreat and their relationship to climate change could be of great importance in identifying suitable adaptation strategies to limit the influences of climatic change on coastal zones.
1.1 Study area
This study will focus on the Nile Delta Coastal Zone that extends from Alexandria in the west to Port Said in the east, with total length of about 240 km. This distance includes two pronounced promontories (Rosetta and Damietta) and central bulge (Burullus). The promontories are separated by embayment in the coastal configuration and backed by large lakes (Idku, El Burullus and El Manzala) that are connected to the sea, and fields of sand dunes (Frihy and Komar, 1993). The area contains three coastal fishing harbors: Idku, New El Burullus, and El Gamil; and the two commercial harbors: Damietta and Port Said. The coastal plain of the Nile Delta is characterized by a low-relief surface that is less than 3.0 m above mean sea level, with the exception of the sand dunes.