Mehdi Maanan

Université Hassan II de Casablanca · Earth Sciences

Storms can cause significant damage, severe social disturbance and loss of human life, but predicting them is challenging due to their infrequent occurrence. To overcome this problem, a novel deep learning and machine learning approach based on long short-term memory (LSTM) and Extreme Gradient Boosting (XGBoost) was applied to predict storm charac...

Urbanization and climate change are two major challenges of the 21st century, and the effects of climate change, combined with the urbanization of coastal areas, increase the frequency of coastal flooding and the area exposed to it, resulting in increased risk of flooding and larger numbers of people and properties being vulnerable. An urban growth...

Coastal erosion assessment has emerged as one of the most significant instruments for making decisions and offering effective solutions for coastal regions. Mohammedia-Casablanca’s shoreline constantly changes due to natural and man-made erosion and accretion. This research uses historical aerial photographs, wave analysis data, geographic informat...

A large portion of Morocco’s forest ecosystem is being damaged by human activity and climate change, which makes it crucial for the country to monitor forest dynamics and develop measures to counter these effects. The objective of this study was to determine how the forest cover has changed over the past four decades in Bouskoura forest, Morocco. B...

Amidst the rising prevalence of electric vehicles (EV) and the corresponding need for adequate charging infrastructures, this study presents an innovative application of deep learning models to analyze urban traffic. Utilizing the YOLO v3 model, our research focuses on developing a prototype for counting vehicles at an urban roundabout connecting t...

In the 21st century, tackling climate change is an important challenge, and the absorption of CO 2 via urban greening employing photosynthesis offers a potential answer to the climate issue. Within this work, the city of Nador is chosen as a case study. The initiative in question proposes an enhanced technique focused on estimating the advantages o...

Coastal lagoons are considered as one of the most productive ecosystems worldwide but are also vulnerable to the growing human-made stressors. This study aimed at assessing, for the first time, the ecological status of the Oualidia lagoon (Atlantic coast of Morocco) using benthic macroinvertebrates as bioindicators. An integrative ecological monito...

Because of its semi-arid climate, Morocco constructed a great number of dams in order to satisfy its essential needs. The Sidi Abderrahmane reservoir is part of the catchment area of Oum Rbia River. The setting of the water stopping was carried out in 1965. Its vocation is the drinking water, industries and the irrigation. To study the water qualit...

The evaluation of socio-economic potential plays a pivotal role in advancing sustainable transportation systems, particularly in the field of the infrastructure for electric vehicle charging. In this study, we present a comprehensive methodology that integrates the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) and machine learning techniques to evaluate the soc...

The Marchica lagoon (Morocco, Alboran Sea), one of the largest lagoons in the Mediterranean, was subject to various restoration actions in 2011 aiming at enhancing its biodiversity and ecosystem services. Here, benthic macrofauna was investigated (28 stations sampled seasonally in 2015) to assess the functioning on the lagoon after these restoratio...

El Jadida Beach (X: -8.5007116; Y: 33.2316326) is a sandy beach of low altitude that constitutes a kind of enclave located between the port of El Jadida and rocky outcrops. It is influenced by natural and anthropic factors, as well as the impact of tourism, particularly during the summer, when sand is used for amusement activities (Beach Ball compe...

The continued demand for mineral deposits in recent years has led exploration geologists for each stage of mineral exploration; find more effective and innovative ways of processing different data types. The use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) allows various features, such as elevation, slope, tectonic structures, lithological units and ind...

This comparative study assessed hepatitis A virus (HAV) contamination in shellfish harvesting areas in Morocco, and the correlations between viral contamination and rainfall. To this aim, HAV contamination was evaluated in 156 shellfish samples collected at three Moroccan coastal areas (52 samples/area): Dakhla (class A), Oualidia (class B), and Mo...

Coastal lagoons are highly dynamic and physically complicated systems. They are environmentally productive and socioeconomically valuable. Contemporary global development and management pressures require a better understanding of their dynamics and sustainability. The present study focuses on the problem of water confinement in the Oualidia lagoon...

Quantifying and mapping cultural ecosystem services are complex because of their intangibility. Data from social media, such as geo-tagged photographs, has been proposed for mapping cultural use or appreciation of ecosystems. However, manual content analysis and classification of large numbers of photographs is time-consuming. The potential of deep...

The Caspian Sea (CS), biggest inland water worldwide has experienced around 3 m oscillation in sea level during the 20th century. These rapid sea level fluctuations have had a great impact on the coastal habitat around this sea. Therefore, this study is aimed to investigate the long-term changes of the western part of the Caspian Sea shoreline and...

For managers of coastal areas, data and statistics on the usage and appreciation of nature are important. Utilization of social media platforms, such as the photo-sharing website Flickr, is a potential trend. We propose a unique strategy based on machine learning (image analysis) and convolutional neural network (CNN) for assessing cultural ecosyst...

The population structure and growth parameters of the commercially important species of sea cucumber Holothuria arguinensis in Moroccan waters was studied, being the first study reported along these waters. We collected 455 individuals of H. arguinensis at Skhirat, and 209 at Souiria K’dima, Northern and center Atlantic of Morocco. To avoid deviati...

Land degradation is a problem which afects large areas of land and the ecological services provided by coastal wetlands. Coastal ecosystems ofer signifcant benefts for humans and the environment, including services like coastal blue carbon sequestration (CBCS), the economic value of which merits further study. The aim of this paper is to estimate t...

By 2050, Most of the world’s population will live in cities, this demographic explosion will lead to significant urban development at the expanse of natural land which may harm the environmental quality. Consequently, assessing and modeling the urban environmental quality (UEQ) is requisite for efficient urban sprawl control and better city plannin...

Coastal lagoons are highly dynamic and physically complicated systems. They are environmentally productive and socio-economically valuable. Contemporary global development and management pressures require a better understanding of their dynamics and sustainability. The present study focuses on the problem of water confinement in the Oualidia lagoon...

The finite element model SHYFEM was used to study the hydrodynamics and variability of water level, salinity, temperature, and water residence time (WRT) in the Oualidia lagoon located on the Moroccan Atlantic coast. The lagoon hosts a RAMSAR convention-protected area and also offers a set of valuable ecosystem services providing the source of inco...

Land degradation is a problem that increasingly affects large areas of territories and affects various ecosystem services provided by coastal wetlands. These marine ecosystems provide valuable benefits to the environment and to humans, including services such as coastal blue carbon sequestration (CBCS) the economic value of which is still poorly un...

The coastal zone, a highly dynamic and complex environment, has important ecological and jurisdictional implications for governments and coastal managers. Based on the CORINE Land Cover classification system, this paper examined the effects of land use and land cover change (LULC) on the coastlines' dynamics along the ∼24 km barrier island of Nador...

Date palm trees play an important role in Oasis economy, particularly in North-Africa and Middle-East regions. Obviously, information about the palm trees number and health conditions is very fundamental for assessing stress and disease, monitoring stage of growth and development, as well as predicting yield. Deep learning is an innovative method,...

According to various sources, Southern Morocco has stood out as an outstanding tourist destination in recent decades, with global appeal. Dakhla City, including Dakhla Bay, classified by the Convention on Wetlands in 2005 as a Wetland of International Importance, offers visitors various entertainment opportunities at many city sites. Therefore, hum...

Morocco, like the rest of the world, is experiencing a climate change that threatens a number of wetlands. Marine ecosystems contribute to the regulation of the Earth’s climate, but their degradation releases large quantities of greenhouse gases (GHGs) such as carbon dioxide (CO2) into the atmosphere. This paper aimed to map and model changes in ca...

In mesotidal environments, the monitoring of shoreline changes is hampered by the uncertainties in the determination of this line on aerial photographs. This paper discusses and evaluates the importance of taking into account the margin of error related to the use of aerial photographs on the interpretation of the shoreline changes. To demonstrate...

This research presents an approach to assess the ecosystem services (ES) flow in the Oualidia lagoon in Morocco combining geographic information systems (GIS) and the analytic hierarchy process (AHP). We evaluated the flow of 15 ES divided into regulating, provisioning, and cultural categories in 20 CORINE land-cover classes found in the lagoon are...

Analyzing and understanding coastline variability and dynamics are important for scientists and policy-makers. This study investigates the long-term process of shoreline change along the Tetouan coast (44 km) for a 60-year period (1958–2018). The shoreline kinematics were analyzed by using high-resolution orthoimages and the Digital Shoreline Analy...

In mesotidal environments, the monitoring of shoreline changes is hampered by the determination of this line on aerial photographs. This paper discusses and evaluates the importance of taking into account the margin of error associated in determining the state of the shoreline. To demonstrate this effect, three cases were selected and studied using...

The continuous urban expansion is one of the most important problems in urban development due to its negative societal and environmental impacts. This study encompasses the spatial-temporal of land use/cover change (LUCC) monitoring (1999-2018) and urban growth modelling (2010-2040) of El Jadida city, Morocco. For this purpose, Landsat-7 ETM and La...

In recent decades, many of the countries around the world as well as the southwestern Morocco (Guelmim region, Assaka watershed), was subject to flood-storm causing huge human and material damages. The current study focuses on the Prediction of flash flood susceptibility using Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process (FAHP) algorithms and Geographic Info...

Energy plays a crucial role in the economy of any country. One of the most recent trends in global development is the transition to "green" growth. Morocco is keeping pace with its growth by promising to increase renewable energy capacity to 42% of total installed capacity by 2020 and to 52% by 2030. This study develops a framework that aims to det...

Lagoon ecosystems bring a multitude of benefits to humanity. In addition to being a natural cultural heritage , they are sources of food, water and flood protection. However, human pressures threaten these benefits, called "ecosystem services". To preserve them, policymakers need clear information on how biodiversity underpins these services, the d...

Terrestrial ecosystems store more carbon (C) than the atmosphere and provide ecosystem services (ES) such as global climate regulation, by sequestering carbon within biomass and soil. Land use land cover (LULC) change is considered a key factor, playing an important role in the dynamic variations of carbon storage. The aim of this paper is to asses...

An updated assessment of land sensitivity to desertification is essential for comprehensive planning and preparation of action plans. In this study, modified Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use (MEDALUS) method by employing a fuzzy inference system in a GIS environment was used to identify environmental sensitive areas (ESA) to desertificati...

Semi enclosed waters, such as estuaries and lagoons, are vulnerable ecosystems that are experiencing persistent trace element (TE) contamination. Seagrasses have been reported worldwide as valuable bioindicator species for coastal contamination monitoring purpose. This is, to our knowledge, the first time the TE contamination of semi-enclosed ecosy...

This study assesses the coastal flooding risk of Kenitra coast (Morrocan Atlantic) consisting of rectilinear beaches backed by dunes and crossed by the mouth of Sebou river. A Differential Global Positioning System (DGPS) topographic survey of the study area was carried out in order to analyse shore and backshore morphology. Total water levels (TWL...

Geological mapping in desert, mountainous or densely vegetated areas are sometimes faced with many constraints. Recently several remote sensing methods are used on ASTER or LANDSAT imagery for making that task easier. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the applicability of some of these methods on Sentinel-2A images. The study, therefore, focuses...

Renewable energy sources are at the forefront of political discussions around the world because of the scarcity of fossil fuels and climate change caused by the accumulation of greenhouse gases. By 2030, Morocco will cover 52% of these energy needs through renewable energies, in order to preserve the environment (COP 22). This paper aims to estimat...

Geological mapping in desert, mountainous or densely vegetated areas are sometimes faced with many constraints. Recently several remote sensing methods are used on ASTER or LANDSAT imagery for making that task easier. The aim of this paper is to evaluate the applicability of some of these methods on Sentinel-2A images. The study, therefore, focuses...

The distribution, contamination status, and ecological risks of heavy metals in Tahaddart estuary were investigated. 24 surface sediment samples and two cores were collected and analyzed for major (Al and Fe), heavy metals (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn), and grain size composition. The heavy metals assessment was carried out using different envir...

This study investigates a long-term process of shoreline change along the coastal stretch of the Kenitra coast using geospatial techniques and automatic calculations. A DSAS over a three quarter-centennial period of 78 years (1936–2014) was used. Measurements of shoreline variations were undertaken for three beaches aligned from North to South in C...

Coastal lagoons have significant biodiversity and ecologic and socio-economic interest. Several resident and migratory birds live in coastal lagoons as well as fish and other aquatic biota. Over the years, lagoons worldwide have been subject to considerable sediment deposition coming especially from soil erosion due of agricultural activities, and...

Morocco hosts numerous archaeological sites, some of which are part of the UNESCO world heritage. Many of these sites, especially funerary mounds also called tumuli, or rock engravings and ceramics, are located in remote areas with limited access, particularly in the Saharan Morocco desert. We developed a remote sensing and GIS model to identify ar...

ABSTRACTThis study provides an integrated approach using geographical information system (GIS) based on a multi-criteria approach (MCDA) to assess coastal vulnerability, resulting from human activity, population density, erosion, and climate change-induced sea level rise. A coastal vulnerability index (CVI) for erosion and floods was calculated and...

The Oualidia lagoon provides important ecosystem services, such as fishing, aquaculture, tourism and high biological and ecological productivity. Many indices have been developed to evaluate environmental risks and to estimate the anthropogenic contribution of potentially toxic elements (PTE) in surficial sediments. The results show that the concen...

This paper presents an integrated method to assess the vulnerability of coastal risks by applying the Fuzzy Analytic Hierarchy Process (FAHP) and spatial analysis techniques with a geographic information system (GIS). The coast of Mohammedia, located in Morocco, was chosen as the study site to implement and validate the proposed framework by applyi...

The First International ASRO Geological Congress [ASRO-GC-2017], El Jadida, Morocco

Heavy metal assessment in Dakhla Bay (Atlantic coast) was carried out using different environmental and ecological indices. Heavy metal concentrations were measured using ICP–AES and were compared with consensus-based sediment quality guidelines. The distribution of heavy metal concentrations varies for the three groups: (i) lead distribution is do...

Heavy metal assessment in Nador lagoon (Mediterranean coast) was carried out using different environmental indices. In addition, heavy metal concentrations were measured in sediment samples and compared with consensus-based sediment quality guidelines. The spatial distributions of the main contamination sources of heavy metals were identified and d...

The spatio-temporal variations of four physico-chemical parameters (temperature, salinity, pH and turbidity) and content in water of Escherichia coli (E. coli) and faecal streptococci (FS) were studied between July 2010 and July 2011 at the Oualidia lagoon and its watershed in relation to the discharge of domestic and agricultural wastewater. The a...

An integrated approach, involving land use patterns and heavy metal contents of the surficial and cored sediment, was proposed to detect the characteristic spatial and temporal scale of point and non-point source human disturbances on the Oualidia lagoon in Morocco. Identification and description of the temporal and spatial distributions of the mai...

Superficial and cored sediment samples from the Moulay Bousselham lagoon and sub-watershed were analyzed for Al, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn, Ni, Cr, As, Hg, and Cd. The temporal and spatial distributions of the main contamination sources of heavy metals were identified and described using chemometric and geographic information system (GIS) methods. Sedimen...

Superficial and cored sediment samples from the Moulay Bousselham lagoon and sub-watershed were analyzed for Al, Fe, Cu, Zn, Pb, Mn, Ni, Cr, As, Hg, and Cd. The temporal and spatial distributions of the main contamination sources of heavy metals were identified and described using chemometric and geographic information system (GIS) methods. Sedimen...

Numerous studies on the impact of anthropogenic activities on coastal water quality have been carried out in the last three decades, focusing mainly on urban expansion and agricultural development in coastal areas. In this study, we assess heavy metal pollution in the superficial and cored sediment of the Oualidia lagoon (Morocco). Superficial and...

The determination of priority areas at risk for contaminant mobility challenges scientists and resource managers, who are increasingly prevailed upon to provide a predictive understanding of the processes and relative dangers associated with the degrading of the aquatic environment. Comprehensive and joint applications of GIS and statistics approac...