Prediction of dissolved oxygen in the Mediterranean Sea along Gaza, Palestine – an artificial neural network approach Hossam Adel Zaqoot, Abdul Khalique Ansari, Mukhtiar Ali Unar and Shaukat Hyat Khan ABSTRACT Hossam Adel Zaqoot (corresponding author) Abdul Khalique Ansari Mukhtiar Ali Unar Shaukat Hyat Khan Department of Chemical Engineering, Department of Computer Systems & Software Engineering, Environment Quality Authority (Palestinian Authority)-PhD Scholar at the Institute of Environmental Engineering & Management, Mehran university of Engineering and Technology and National Institute of Oceanography, Oceanography, Pakistan E-mail: hanreen2@yahoo.com Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs) are flexible tools which are being used increasingly to predict and forecast water resources variables. The human activities in areas surrounding enclosed and semi-enclosed seas such as the Mediterranean Sea always produce in the long term a strong environmental impact in the form of coastal and marine degradation. The presence of dissolved oxygen is essential for the survival of most organisms in the water bodies. This paper is concerned with the use of ANNs — Multilayer Perceptron (MLP) and Radial Basis Function neural networks for predicting the next fortnight’s dissolved oxygen concentrations in the Mediterranean Sea water along Gaza. MLP and Radial Basis Function (RBF) neural networks are trained and developed with reference to five important oceanographic variables including water temperature, wind velocity, turbidity, pH and conductivity. These variables are considered as inputs of the network. The data sets used in this study consist of four years and collected from nine locations along Gaza coast. The network performance has been tested with different data sets and the results show satisfactory performance. Prediction results prove that neural network approach has good adaptability and extensive applicability for modelling the dissolved oxygen in the Mediterranean Sea along Gaza. We hope that the established model will help in assisting the local authorities in developing plans and policies to reduce the pollution along Gaza coastal waters to acceptable levels. Key words | ANNs, dissolved oxygen, Gaza, Mediterranean Sea, MLP, prediction, RBF INTRODUCTION Seawater pollution problems are gaining interest world wide because of their health impacts and other environ- mental issues. The Gaza marine environment is facing serious threats from land-based pollution sources. The small Gaza Strip is one of the most densely populated areas in the world that already counts about 1.4 million inhabitants. The limited land resources, physical isolations of the area and the underdeveloped environmental management system have caused various environmental problems. These problems lead to pollution of the coastal environment, deterioration of natural resources and diminishing of fish populations. The fishery, tourist, domestic and agricultural sectors are directly faced by the negative impacts (Ministry of Environmental Affairs-Palestinian Authority (MEnA) 2001). The anthropogenic activities, such as urbanisation, agriculture and industrial processing, have resulted in increasing inputs of both chemical and biological pollution to the seawater. In recent years, much public attention has been paid to the potential health risks of bathing in water polluted with sewage. doi: 10.2166/wst.2009.730 3051 Q IWA Publishing 2009 Water Science & Technology—WST | 60.12 | 2009