Alays Kacimi - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Alays Kacimi

Water

The study area, in northwestern Burundi, is an alluvial plain consisting of fine clayey sands and... more The study area, in northwestern Burundi, is an alluvial plain consisting of fine clayey sands and coarse sands with mixed lithology. The aquifer of the lower Rusizi plain could be considered as confined under a clay layer. A 2D horizontal groundwater flow model was developed under steady-state conditions using the Modflow software. The study aims to determine the most productive areas of this confined alluvial aquifer and the main aquifer inflow and outflow values together with the recharge and river–aquifer interactions. The groundwater potential is dependent on the spatial distribution of hydraulic conductivity and aquifer thickness values providing the local transmissivity values. The calibrated model made it possible to assess the spatial distribution of the hydraulic conductivity values at the regional scale, which ranged from 6 × 10−6 (contact between alluvial plain and Precambrian basement) to 7.5 × 10−3 m/s (coastal barriers). The results also provided the computed groundwat...

ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2020

This research provides an overview of different coastal water bodies in Morocco, such as lagoons.... more This research provides an overview of different coastal water bodies in Morocco, such as lagoons. These complex coastal areas are essential and provide valuable ecosystem services and Welfare to their population. The paper followed a Drivers-Activities-Pressures-State Change-Impact (on Welfare)-Responses (as Measures) framework (DAPSI(W)R(M)) to analyze the environmental conditions, vulnerabilities and present future perspectives that will assist decision-makers in the decision process in order to provide the sustainable growth regarding these ecosystems. The findings results show that this approach is a valuable and important tool for providing information to improve coastal water bodies.

Remote Sensing

Coastal and marine management require the evaluation of multiple environmental threats and issues... more Coastal and marine management require the evaluation of multiple environmental threats and issues. However, there are gaps in the necessary data and poor access or dissemination of existing data in many countries around the world. This research identifies how remote sensing can contribute to filling these gaps so that environmental agencies, such as the United Nations Environmental Programme, European Environmental Agency, and International Union for Conservation of Nature, can better implement environmental directives in a cost-effective manner. Remote sensing (RS) techniques generally allow for uniform data collection, with common acquisition and reporting methods, across large areas. Furthermore, these datasets are sometimes open-source, mainly when governments finance satellite missions. Some of these data can be used in holistic, coastal and marine environmental management frameworks, such as the DAPSI(W)R(M) framework (Drivers–Activities–Pressures–State changes–Impacts (on Wel...

Frontiers in Environmental Sciences, 2020

International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 2020

A limited number of studies have been conducted in Morocco to estimate dams siltation rate based ... more A limited number of studies have been conducted in Morocco to estimate dams siltation rate based on suspended solids concentration (SSC) field measurements. The present article provides an evaluation of the siltation rate through an inventory of field measurements data which has been collected upstream of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah (SMBA) Dam reservoir. The analysis was based on measurements performed according to a predefined protocol at four hydrological stations located immediately upstream of the dam during the hydrological years of 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. The analysis was also based on several bathymetric field surveys performed throughout the reservoir area since the construction of the dam. Field measurements show that recorded sedimentation depth at the four stations during the first year was 14% higher than the second year although it had an excess of rainfall and runoff compared to the first year. Estimated correlation coefficients between flow rates and suspended solids c...

Over the last few decades, Casablanca city became the biggest industrial, commercial center in Mo... more Over the last few decades, Casablanca city became the biggest industrial, commercial center in Morocco with
rapid urbanization and explosive population growth, more than 4 million people. Urban expansion has reached to suburban
areas due to population growth and socio economic development, not to mention the rapid increase of transportation.
Result of these changes causes a change of microclimate in urban areas. The most evident phenomenon is the increase of
urban surface temperature as compared with suburban areas, “heat island” is formed in the atmospheric boundary above
urban area. It could make serious environmental problems for its inhabitants (e.g., urban waterlogged and thermal
pollution). Thermal infrared remote sensing bands, proved its capability in monitoring temperature field. The purpose of this
study is to evaluate the use of Landsat TM, ETM+, OLI and TIRS data for indicating temperature differences in urban areas, in
order to achieve a spatiotemporal study, using data between 1984 and 2014, and showing the relationship between urban
expansion and the heat island effect during time, producing maps that shows the distribution of urban temperature. Results
can be combined with land use/ land cover maps or thermal-land cover and operated as reference for urban planning and
future solutions to reduce heat island effect.

In this work, we present a hybrid classification technique combining an expert system and an obje... more In this work, we present a hybrid classification technique combining an expert system and an object‐oriented
approach. The expert system allows the integration of a knowledge base built through a series of deductive rules, that will
guide the classification whose primitives requires informations on the highest level and will be represented by semantic
objects, not pixels. Instead of the original bands only, other derived data combining textural, spectral information and
shapes, are included in the classification process. The result is then combined with an expert system whose rules use
variables such as vegetation index (NDVI), shading of building objects and other indicators. In conclusion, this approach has
allowed us to improve the accuracy of the feature extraction method by extracting objects like, roads, trees, grass, bare soil
and shadow on a very high‐resolution image of the city of Rabat.

Water

The study area, in northwestern Burundi, is an alluvial plain consisting of fine clayey sands and... more The study area, in northwestern Burundi, is an alluvial plain consisting of fine clayey sands and coarse sands with mixed lithology. The aquifer of the lower Rusizi plain could be considered as confined under a clay layer. A 2D horizontal groundwater flow model was developed under steady-state conditions using the Modflow software. The study aims to determine the most productive areas of this confined alluvial aquifer and the main aquifer inflow and outflow values together with the recharge and river–aquifer interactions. The groundwater potential is dependent on the spatial distribution of hydraulic conductivity and aquifer thickness values providing the local transmissivity values. The calibrated model made it possible to assess the spatial distribution of the hydraulic conductivity values at the regional scale, which ranged from 6 × 10−6 (contact between alluvial plain and Precambrian basement) to 7.5 × 10−3 m/s (coastal barriers). The results also provided the computed groundwat...

ACM International Conference Proceeding Series, 2020

This research provides an overview of different coastal water bodies in Morocco, such as lagoons.... more This research provides an overview of different coastal water bodies in Morocco, such as lagoons. These complex coastal areas are essential and provide valuable ecosystem services and Welfare to their population. The paper followed a Drivers-Activities-Pressures-State Change-Impact (on Welfare)-Responses (as Measures) framework (DAPSI(W)R(M)) to analyze the environmental conditions, vulnerabilities and present future perspectives that will assist decision-makers in the decision process in order to provide the sustainable growth regarding these ecosystems. The findings results show that this approach is a valuable and important tool for providing information to improve coastal water bodies.

Remote Sensing

Coastal and marine management require the evaluation of multiple environmental threats and issues... more Coastal and marine management require the evaluation of multiple environmental threats and issues. However, there are gaps in the necessary data and poor access or dissemination of existing data in many countries around the world. This research identifies how remote sensing can contribute to filling these gaps so that environmental agencies, such as the United Nations Environmental Programme, European Environmental Agency, and International Union for Conservation of Nature, can better implement environmental directives in a cost-effective manner. Remote sensing (RS) techniques generally allow for uniform data collection, with common acquisition and reporting methods, across large areas. Furthermore, these datasets are sometimes open-source, mainly when governments finance satellite missions. Some of these data can be used in holistic, coastal and marine environmental management frameworks, such as the DAPSI(W)R(M) framework (Drivers–Activities–Pressures–State changes–Impacts (on Wel...

Frontiers in Environmental Sciences, 2020

International Journal of Scientific & Technology Research, 2020

A limited number of studies have been conducted in Morocco to estimate dams siltation rate based ... more A limited number of studies have been conducted in Morocco to estimate dams siltation rate based on suspended solids concentration (SSC) field measurements. The present article provides an evaluation of the siltation rate through an inventory of field measurements data which has been collected upstream of Sidi Mohamed Ben Abdellah (SMBA) Dam reservoir. The analysis was based on measurements performed according to a predefined protocol at four hydrological stations located immediately upstream of the dam during the hydrological years of 2016/2017 and 2017/2018. The analysis was also based on several bathymetric field surveys performed throughout the reservoir area since the construction of the dam. Field measurements show that recorded sedimentation depth at the four stations during the first year was 14% higher than the second year although it had an excess of rainfall and runoff compared to the first year. Estimated correlation coefficients between flow rates and suspended solids c...

Over the last few decades, Casablanca city became the biggest industrial, commercial center in Mo... more Over the last few decades, Casablanca city became the biggest industrial, commercial center in Morocco with
rapid urbanization and explosive population growth, more than 4 million people. Urban expansion has reached to suburban
areas due to population growth and socio economic development, not to mention the rapid increase of transportation.
Result of these changes causes a change of microclimate in urban areas. The most evident phenomenon is the increase of
urban surface temperature as compared with suburban areas, “heat island” is formed in the atmospheric boundary above
urban area. It could make serious environmental problems for its inhabitants (e.g., urban waterlogged and thermal
pollution). Thermal infrared remote sensing bands, proved its capability in monitoring temperature field. The purpose of this
study is to evaluate the use of Landsat TM, ETM+, OLI and TIRS data for indicating temperature differences in urban areas, in
order to achieve a spatiotemporal study, using data between 1984 and 2014, and showing the relationship between urban
expansion and the heat island effect during time, producing maps that shows the distribution of urban temperature. Results
can be combined with land use/ land cover maps or thermal-land cover and operated as reference for urban planning and
future solutions to reduce heat island effect.

In this work, we present a hybrid classification technique combining an expert system and an obje... more In this work, we present a hybrid classification technique combining an expert system and an object‐oriented
approach. The expert system allows the integration of a knowledge base built through a series of deductive rules, that will
guide the classification whose primitives requires informations on the highest level and will be represented by semantic
objects, not pixels. Instead of the original bands only, other derived data combining textural, spectral information and
shapes, are included in the classification process. The result is then combined with an expert system whose rules use
variables such as vegetation index (NDVI), shading of building objects and other indicators. In conclusion, this approach has
allowed us to improve the accuracy of the feature extraction method by extracting objects like, roads, trees, grass, bare soil
and shadow on a very high‐resolution image of the city of Rabat.