The Coastal Research Institute (CoRI) was established in 1972 in response to an urgent need for monitoring and protecting the Egyptian coasts. CoRI is one of the twelve institutes of the National Water Research Center (NWRC). Its mandate is to carry out studies on existing and future problems with the aim of identifying what protection projects are required along Egyptian coastal zones. CoRI activities to study coastal zones vulnerability to climatic changes Shore-line retreat and changes of the Nile Delta coast have been observed long before the final closure of the Aswan high Dam in 1964. The investigation of sea level changes requires long term records of reliable observations. Therefore, CoRI performed the following activities: 1.Since 1976 three tide gauges were installed at Rosetta, Burullus and Ras El Bar to record the change in water levels. 2.Since 2000, three weather stations have been fixed at Rosetta, Burullus and Ras El Bar to measure wind speed and direction. 3.Wave gauges (OSPOS, CASE System and S4DW) were installed in front of Abu Quir, Rosetta and Damietta to study the impact of climate change on wave characteristics. 4.Proposed a study on "Impact of climate changes on the Mediterranean costal zone, Egypt", with Spain, Germany and Greece in the FP7 program plan. 5.Proposed a study on "Addressing vulnerabilities to climate changes in the Nile delta through integrated coastal zone management", with UNDP-GEF 6.Many papers concerning climatic changes have been published and a Ph.D. thesis were completed on "Sea water level variations and its estimation along the northern Egyptian coast using artificial neural networks model' 7.Through the second national communication report, a vulnerability assessment study is being carried out to generate description and distribution map (using GIS) for the coastal zone up to contour +3.0 m along Egyptian coast. The map will include different the features located in the coastal zone up to that level. According to the scenario of sea level rise and the vulnerability of different sectors a strategy action plan to adopt with climatic change impacts will be proposed. Source: Dr. Ibrahim El Shinawy, Director, CoRI
