T36 Building Capacity for Hydrologic Science in Water-Stressed Regions of the World (Posters)

Sunday, 4 November 2012
9:00 AM - 6:30 PM
Hall B

HYDROLOGIC CAPACITY BUILDING IN THE MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA: EXAMPLES FROM DISTANCE LEARNING AND APPLIED WORKSHOPS

Paper number: T36-1
Program: Technical Sessions
Time: 9:00 AM – 6:30 PM

Authors

Abstract

Scientific investigations aimed at achieving water resource sustainability on a global scale should be complemented by efforts to involve international collaborations and collaborative scientific investigations as well as provide scientific exchange opportunities (e.g., training, workshops, etc.). Under the support of the Department of State, an integrated hydrologic education approach using online distance courses, field programs, and a hands-on workshop held in the United States on remote sensing, GIS, and modeling applications in hydrogeology as part of BOOST (Building Opportunity Out of Science and Technology) were conducted to train the next generation of scientists from the MENA region.

Twelve students (six from Egypt and six from Morocco) participated in an online course aimed at providing online technical instruction during the spring 2012. Moodle, an open source online course management system, was used to host and conduct the online instruction (http://wrrs.uga.edu/moodle). Students were given a series of lectures, homework, and quizzes on three main topics (Remote Sensing, GIS, and Hydrologic Modeling) to become proficient integrating traditional field information with satellite data and software. Following the online instruction students participated in a hands-on workshop entitled, “BOOST: Hydrogeology Workshop – Principles and Applications of GIS, Remote Sensing & Hydrologic Modeling.” Using ENVI, ArcGIS, and ArcSWAT students completed a series of lectures and exercises (e.g., Introduction to ArcGIS, Analysis and Integration of Field Data into ArcGIS, Spatial Analysis in GIS, Data Acquistion and Resources, and Hydrologic Modeling).

Overall, proved a success based on student progressions and reviews. The methodologies utilized as part of BOOST demonstrate the potential for using similar techniques in other parts of the world in an effort to increase global capacity building, an imperative step towards addressing the challenges in a vastly changing world.