Andy Y. Kwarteng

Status of the exotic Ring-necked Parakeet, Psittacula krameri, in Oman (Aves: Psittacidae).

Abstract The Ring-necked Parakeet, Psittacula krameri, an invasive bird species, first appeared in Oman in 1950 but apparently died out and was not seen again until 1965, when it was re-introduced, probably through the escape or release of captive birds. From then on the species has gradually spread to its present distributional range that includes the Musandam Peninsula, all of the northern Batinah coast, the capital area of Muscat, occasional inland towns, and the area around Salalah in southern Oman. Its introduction to Masirah Island appears to have failed to establish a breeding population. The number of sightings of parakeets in Oman has increased from one per year in the late 1960’s to over 65 per year in 2001–2002. Despite the sightings of a few large flocks, flock size has remained fairly small, increasing from a mean of 1–2 individuals in the late 1960’s and early 1970’s to a mean of 7–8 for most years between 1985 and 2002. To date, the parakeets have been observed in areas that are inhabited by humans and in areas of agricultural development. Thus, the spread of this species within Oman is strongly linked to human activities, probably due to the increased availability of food in such areas. This species has the potential to be a serious pest in Oman consuming cash crops, particularly dates and grains.

Remote Sensing of Urban Environmental Conditions

Surface temperature and vegetation abundance are two environmental conditions that can be accurately measured from satellites. This chapter gives an overview of the following: (1) urbanization and the urban environment; (2) urban vegetation, surface temperature and public health issues; (3) techniques for urban vegetation mapping; (4) urban thermal mapping; and (5) comparison of urban vegetation and surface temperature and their impact on environmental conditions in New York City and Kuwait City.

Remote Sensing Imagery Assessment of Areas Severely Affected by Cyclone Gonu in Muscat, Sultanate of Oman

Cyclone Gonu, which was the strongest tropical cyclone to hit the Arabian Peninsula, affected the eastern parts of the Sultanate of Oman on June 4, 2007. The cyclone brought along strong and torrential rains, high waves, and strong winds. Gonu was first observed as an incipient tropical depression in the Indian Ocean on May 27 by weather satellites. Gonu peaked to category 5 on June 6 but was downgraded to category 1 by June 8, 2007. As the storm weakened, it moved through the Arabian Sea and made a landfall in Iran at 0.00 GMT on June 7, 2007. The most seriously affected areas in Oman included Sur, Quriyat, and parts of Muscat Governorate. In the city of Muscat, the torrential rains from Gonu turned wadis and roads to rivers, and low areas to lakes at the scale never recorded in the history of the Sultanate of Oman (Fig. 1). Some of the other major destructions caused by the cyclone in Muscat area included: Damage to desalination plants resulting in water shortages Damage to buildings and other infrastructure Damage to roads and bridges Uprooting of trees Severing of electricity supply and telephone network

Utilization of satellite SAR imagery for mapping sand dunes in Kuwait

The effectiveness of Radarsat standard beam mode images with various incidence angles and illumination directions were investigated for their usefulness in mapping sand dunes in the Al-Huwaimiliyah mobile sand zone in NW Kuwait. The highly directional sand dunes behaved as quasi-reflectors and were observed only in the low incidence Radarsat S1 image (incidence angle 20-27.4/spl deg/). With increasing incidence angle in the Radarsat S4 (incidence angle 33.6-39.6/spl deg/) and S7 (incidence angle 44.9-49.4/spl deg/) beam modes images, the dune were not mapped at all. The dunes were also observed in the ascending mode with the Radarsat S4 image when the angle between the perpendicular to the dune trend and the radar illumination direction was 54/spl deg/. Multitemporal ERS-1/2 coherence imagery was used to map mobile sand dunes and relatively stable areas. For the Al-Huwaimiliyah sand dunes, Radarsats low incidence angle and ascending modes images were found to be the most suitable for studying the sand dunes.

Remote sensing assessment of coastal erosion in Al Batinah, Oman

Coastal erosion and accretion occur in several areas in the Sultanate of Oman, in part, as natural processes and the continuing change of the shoreline. Along Al Batinah coast, erosion and accretion are exacerbated in the vicinity of major engineering constructions such as fishing harbors, breakwaters, and desalination plants. The impact of such structures is the alternation of the sediment transport along the coastline. In this study, aerial photos, Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM), and high-resolution Ikonos images acquired between 1975 and 2003 were processed and used to map changes at selected areas along the Al Batinah coast. In general, only minor erosion and accretion were mapped from the imagery. Landsat TM imagery with a resolution of 30 m mapped only major changes at the Sohar Port. Aerial photos and satellite imagery showed that mouth of Wadi Hawasnah has been blocked completely due to the construction of a recharge dam on the wadi. The Ikonos imagery with a spatial resolution of one meter mapped detailed changes around the infrastructures.

Remote Sensing Analysis of Kuwait City's Thermal Environment

Satellite-derived thermal information over urban areas offers and attractive and inexpensive method which have been utilized in diverse studies including land cover classification, energy flux interactions, and as input for models of urban surface atmosphere exchange. In this study, multitemporal Landsat TM imagery are analyzed for the dependence of energy fluxes on the urban surface properties in Kuwait City located in an arid environments. Thermal imagery is used in conjunction with multispectral imagery to interpret the distribution of surface temperatures in the context of endmember abundances estimated by spectral mixture analysis. In addition, the changes in the thermal properties over several years are evaluated for the city. Scatterplots of surface temperature and vegetation fractions define the physical limits imposed by the vegetation cover, soil water content, and different combinations of surface materials in Kuwait City.

Remote sensing of the modern carbonate system of the Bar Al Hikman Peninsula, Oman

The Bar Al Hikman peninsula located on the eastern coast of Oman has developed over the Pleistocene and Holocene as an in situ shallow water carbonate/evaporite system with subordinate amounts of clastic sand and gravel. In this study different resolutions of satellite imagery ranging from low, medium to high and acquired between 1972 and 2004, were used to map geology, geomorphology and changes in the Bar Al Hikman peninsula. The enhanced Landsat TM and ASTER images compared favorably to published geologic maps of the area with some similarities and some obvious differences that are being verified by field visits and laboratory analysis. The highresolution QuickBird imagery mapped geomorphic features as spit, intertidal lagoon, raised bars and coral reefs with the finest details that have been produced for the study area for the first time. The change detection images mapped changes in coastal sands, lagoons, sabkha, as well as soil moisture content from the movement of the groundwater table.