Durham E-Theses A study of the climate of Egypt with special reference to agriculture Ali, Abdel-Kader Abdel-Aziz A. H. How to cite: Ali, Abdel-Kader Abdel-Aziz A. H. (1978) A study of the climate of Egypt with special reference to agriculture, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/8422/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 A STUDY OF TEE CLIMATE OF EGYPT WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO AGRICULTURE by Abdel-Kader Abdel-Aziz A.H= Ali B.A. (Hons), M.A. (Cairo) A thesis presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the University of Durham, England May 1978 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information derived from it should be acknowledged. To Dr. Peter Beaumont with grateful thanks for his guidance and encouragement i ABSTRACT This thesis contains a study of the climate of Egypt with special reference to agriculture. It is organised in three main sections. The main body of the thesis, beginning with Chapter 3 (Temperatures in Egypt), deals with surface, earth and water temperatures in detail. Analysis of daily maximum temperatures at selected stations during the 15 year period (1960 - 197*0 showed that spring is the period during which the frequency and severity of hot spells is greatest. Analysis of precipitation over Egypt showed that the rainy season in Egypt occurs between October and May and the maximum rainfall over the coastal Mediterranean region occurs in January, but in Middle and Upper Egypt this maximum occurs in October and May. Evaporation and evapotranspiration was estimated using the Penman equation and the Thornthwaite formula for selected stations in Egypt. These indicated that the evaporation and evapotranspiration values for each month are very high at Aswan, Kharga and Dakhla stations, in comparison to Alexandria and Tanta. The main weather features which are sufficient to specify what is called Khamsin weather have been analysed. These are excessively high surface temperatures and extremely low humidities, associated with the invasion of south and south-east winds which produce rising dust 11 and duststorms. It is also seen that there are two types of Khamsin depressions. The first originates over the Atlantic and the second forms to the south of the Atlas mountains. Factor analysis techniques have been used to classify the climate of Egypt. The results showed that the climate of Egypt can basically be divided into two climatic zones. The first comprises the Mediterranean Coastal area, including the Delta. The second zone covers the rest of the country south of Cairo. Multiple regression equations have been used to explain the relationships between the crop yields and selected climatic variables. The results derived show that the multiple regression equations analysing climatic data have good predictive qualities in terms of annual yields. Ill ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to acknowledge the extensive help which I have received from numerous people while working on this study. My sincere thanks go to Dr. Peter Beaumont, my supervisor, for his active and close interest in this study, for his patience and guidance, for sugges• tions which he offered to improve the contents and the form of early drafts, and for the time which he spent reading and discussing the different aspects and scope of the topic. I am greatly indebted to Professor W.B. Fisher, Head of the Department of Geography and Principal of the Graduate Society, who accepted me as a postgraduate research student in his Department, and also my thanks go to Professor J.I. Clarke and Professor H. Bowen-Jones for their encouragement and kind help. Dr. R. Harris has provided help and advice on numerous occasions, to him and to Dr. G.H. Blake and Dr. D.W. Rhind, I wish to express my thanks for their patience and time so generously given in the latter stages of this work. I am also indebted to Dr. I.S. Evans for certain valuable comments especially on the multiple regression techniques used in the third section of this thesis. iv My grateful thanks are rendered to the staff of the Computer Unit, in particular Mr. A.C. Heath and Mr. J. Steele and to the staff of the Science Library, especially Jean M. Chisholm and Mr. W.B. Woodward for their very kind help. My thanks should also be extended to the staff of the Middle East and Islamic Studies Department, the Geography Library, and the Printing, Drawing and Photographic Offices staff in the Geography Department for their invaluable aid. Recognition is also made of the invaluable comments and kind help which I have received from my colleagues in Sky Lab in the Geography Department. In Egypt, many officials, friends and relatives have kindly given different sorts of assistance, for which they deserve my sincere gratitude. I am in• debted to the Ministry of Education and Cairo and Alexandria Universities for their financial support. I oust also thank Professor M.S. Abdel-Hakim, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Cairo University, Professor Y.A. Fayid, the Dean Voice of the same faculty, to Professor M.S. Abu Al-Izz the former Minister of Youth in Egypt and to all my colleagues in Cairo, Alexandria and Ain Shams Universities. I would also like to thank Mr. A.S. Ahamed, the Minister of Irrigation in Egypt and Mr. M. Fatihy, Under Secretary of State and Director General of the Meteorological Department for their friendly relationship and for their encouragement and supplied valuable data. V The completed work owes much to the efforts of Miss D. Taylor, who transformed the original manu• script into a legible, immaculate text. Her careful, painstaking work is very much appreciated. I would like to express my gratitude to my wife Wadida and my sons Mohamed and Samer for their encouragement and their patience which never failed during my study. But, above all, I must return thanks to God, who has provided me with health, patience and strength to accomplish this work. vi CONTENTS Page Abstract i Acknowledgements iii Contents vi List of Figures x List of Tables xvi List of Appendices xx Abbreviations xxi Chapter 1 Introduction l The Physical Environment of Egypt .. 2 1.1 The Nile Valley and the Delta .. 3 1.2 The Western Desert 7 1.3 The Eastern Desert 10 1.4 The Sinai Peninsula 15 1.5 Drainage patterns in Egypt . ..17 1.6 The geological map of Egypt. .. 19 Section 1 The Main~Climatic Elements in Egypt .. 2k Chapter 2 Introduction 2 5 Chapter 3 Temperatures in Egypt 33 3.1 Surface temperatures 31* 3.2 Earth temperatures in Egypt. .. 52 3.3 Water temperatures (River Nile).. 61 Chapter 4 Precipitation in Egypt 70 vii Page 4.1 Climate-logical aspects .. .. 71 4.2 Mean annual rainfall 71 4.3 Seasonal rainfall conditions .. 73 4.4 Monthly and daily rainfall conditions 78 4.5 The variability of rainfall over Egypt 84 4.6 Correlation coefficients analysis 102 Chapter 5 Evapotranspiration in Egypt .. .. 106 5.1 Introduction 107 5.2 Measurement of evapotrans- piration 109 5.3 Evaporation over Egypt 116 5.4 Penman and Thornthwaite evapo• transpiration values for six selected climatic stations in Egypt 120 Chapter 6 Khamsin Conditions in Egypt 133 6.1 Introduction 134 6.2 Geographical and local aspects .. 134 6.3 Khamsin depressions 136 6.4 Desert depressions l4o 6.5 Statistical analysis i4i 6.6 Khamsin weather conditions.. .. 146 6.7 Dust and Khamsin conditions. .. 170 Chapter 7 Climatic Classification in Egypt. .. 177 7.1 Introduction 178 7.2 Methods and analyses 180 7.3 Climatic classification of Egypt using factor analysis techniques. 186 7.4 Grouping of the climatological stations in Egypt ^-98 viii Page Section 2 The Agriculture in Egypt 207 Chapter 8 Introduction 208 Chapter 9 The Expansion of the Cultivated Area and the Major Crops in kgypt 7~. .. 228 9.1 Expansion of the cultivated area in Egypt 229 9.2 The major crops in Egypt .. .. 2 36 9.3 Statistical analysis 2U9 9.4 Agricultural regions in Egypt .. 258 Chapter 10 Irrigation and Drainage in Egypt. .. 261 10.1 Irrigation in Egypt 262 The Nile River The High Dam The River flow Consumptive use of water 10.2 Drainage in Egypt Present and planned drainage Economics of drainage systems Section 3 The Relationship between Climatic Conditions and Crop Yields in fegypt .. 291* Chapter 11 Introduction 295 Chapter 12 The Contribution of Climatic Elements in Predicting Cotton Yields in Egypt7. 298 12.1 Cotton yields 299 12.2 Current varieties of cotton used in Egypt 299 12.3 Cotton growing season 30^ ix Page 12.4 Correlation coefficient tech• niques 307 12.5 Multiple regression techniques .. 317 12.6 Actual and predicted cotton yields in Egypt 333 12.7 Discussion 337 Chapter 13 The Contribution of Climatic Variables in Predicting Wheat Yields in Egypt 77 344 13.1 Wheat yields 3U5 13.2 Wheat growing season 3U5 13.3 Statistical analysis 349 13.4 Actual and predicted wheat yields 36l 13.5 Discussion 366 Chapter 14 Actual and Predicted Maize, Rice and Sugar Cane Yields in Egypt.