Novel Monitoring Techniques For Hydro And Morphodynamics Along Wadi System In Oman

Understanding sediment transport in the wadi system assists in providing valuable information and knowledge for assessing mitigation structures and flood risk. Additionally, advanced technology will help engineers and researchers in the evaluation of water resource strategies. Sedimentation is a severe natural hazard problem for flow channels, lakes, and dams worldwide. However, there is still no clear understanding of sedimentation dynamics in terms of physical aspects and numerical analysis in the wadi channel. Moreover, there is no available data that can be used to calibrate, validate and run the models. There are more than 170 dams in Oman, about 1000 dams in Saudi Arabia, and several tens of them in UAE and other countries. Those water harvesting engineered systems suffer severely from sedimentation and siltation problems, hence jeopardizing the function of the dams and even making them completely dysfunctional and even maybe a source of threats especially under catastrophic climatic events. Therefore, understanding the sediment dynamics along with Wadi systems during and after flash floods is necessary for better management of the surface hydrology, sediment clues in flood mitigation and, consequently, the recharge of underlying groundwater systems. Therefore, this proposal investigates sediment transport and flash flood magnitude in the wadi channel to understand the sediment?s dynamics under erosion, transportation, and deposition processes. First, sediment transport and water discharge will be measured by installing invented devices and implementing novel technologies to monitor and measure several soil-water-sediments related parameters to construct a data baseline. Rainfall data will be collected and analyzed, and advanced monitoring techniques for flow and sediment transport in the Wadi system will be tested In summary, the project aims to assess the impacts of Wadi Flash Floods (WFF) on runoff generation, sedimentation, infiltration and percolation processes, and groundwater recharge. The obtained results are expected to be used for a better understand of surface water hydrology and the associated sediment transport and deposition. Based on this, sustainable sediment measures and recommendations can be proposed. In addition, a cutting-edge approach to explore the relationship between sediment yield, rainfall, and infiltration will be carried out based on field investigations, and remote-sensing-based data