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Evaluation of using satellite image in detecting long term shoreline change

along El-Arish coastal zone, Egypt

Article  in  AEJ - Alexandria Engineering Journal · November 2018

DOI: 10.1016/j.aej.2017.10.005

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Alexandria Engineering Journal (2018) 57, 2687–2702

H O S T E D BY
Alexandria University

Alexandria Engineering Journal

www.elsevier.com/locate/aej
www.sciencedirect.com

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Evaluation of using satellite image in detecting long

term shoreline change along El-Arish coastal zone,
Egypt
A.A. Abu Zed a,*, M.R. Soliman b, A.A. Yassin b

a
Coastal Research Institute (CoRI), National Water Research Center (NWRC), Egypt
b
Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University, Egypt

Received 21 April 2017; revised 13 September 2017; accepted 28 October 2017

Available online 13 November 2018

KEYWORDS Abstract Rapid development along El-Arish city has required new extensive coastal infrastruc-
Landsat images; tures such as El-Arish harbor, and El-Arish power plant. These infrastructures in deep are the main
Remote sensing; source of changing the shoreline behavior. In this study, assessment of shoreline change during
Automaton shoreline; forty-five year period with satellite-derived shoreline was carried out in El-Arish coastal zone using
Extraction; three different modules. Confidence level for the satellite-derived shoreline was defined based on the
Coastal structures; deviation between simultaneous in situ shoreline measurements and abstracted satellite shoreline.
El-Arish long term shoreline The assessment of the introduced modules shows the importance of exploring shoreline change
change using image-processing analysis and demonstrates their applicability at similar locations.
NDWI module gives an accurate shoreline in El-Arish beach 90% of its error doesn’t exceed
25 m. So it was applied to determine the effect of the coastal structures in shoreline.
The construction of El Arish harbor and power plant on an active open sea stopped the sediment
transport at up drift with maximum rate 9.8 and 2.13 m/yr. respectively and causes erosion problem
at down drift which motivate officials to construct protection works to mitigate erosion problems
but unfortunately the groins implemented east El-Arish harbor don’t stop erosion process although
it helps in shoreline fixation.
Ó 2018 Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an
open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction of Suez and the Suez Canal, on the east by the Gulf of Aqaba
and the Egyptian border and on the north by the Mediter-
Sinai is a triangular peninsula occupying the northeastern cor- ranean Sea Fig. 1. The length of the northern Sinai coast is
ner of Egypt. It represents a geographic transition zone about 220 km, extending along the Mediterranean Sea from
between Asia and Africa, bounded on the west by the Gulf Port Said in the west to the Egyptian border at Rafah in the
east. Coastal engineering activities during the past five decades
* Corresponding author at: Coastal Research Institute, 15 El Pharana have resulted in considerable shoreline change along the north-
St., El Shalalat, Alexandria, Egypt.
ern coast of Sinai Peninsula. In the west of El-Arish Power
E-mail address: asmaa_bakr90@yahoo.com (A.A. Abu Zed). Plant, sediment accretion has reached the tip of the breakwater
Peer review under responsibility of Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria of the cooling water intake basin necessitating extensive dredg-
University. ing inside the basin [1]. In addition to erosion problem
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aej.2017.10.005
1110-0168 Ó 2018 Faculty of Engineering, Alexandria University. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
2688
Fig. 1 Sinai Peninsula northern coastline with the study area.
occurred along of the tourist villages beaches in the east of
power plant [2]. In the east of El-Arish Harbor, the shoreline
is continuously retreating, which threaten the famous beautiful
Palm Beach as shown in Fig. 2. All the obstacles east of El-
Arish up to Rafah show a clear net easterly drift [3].
Wave action along the Mediterranean coast of Egypt is sea-
sonal in intensity and direction [4,5]. Wave rose from Frihy
et al., 2002 in Fig. 3 show low-swell waves prevailing during
spring and summer, with wave heights rarely exceeding 1.0–
1.5 m for waves blown from the WNW and rarely from the
NE. Winter waves are much higher than summer waves, fluc-
tuating between stormy and calm intervals and coming from
the N, NNW and NW sectors. The predominant wave direc-
tions (NNW, NW and WNW, totaling 69%) are responsible
for the generation of longshore currents towards the east due
to northwest winds. This is in addition to small percentages
from the N, NNE and NE sectors which generate a reverse
longshore current towards the west, particularly during March
and April, totaling 29%.
Frihy and Lotfy [6] studied shoreline changes along the
northern coast of Sinai using admiralty chart 1992, aerial pho-
tograph 1955 and topographic map 1992. The magnitude of
shoreline changes was not estimated in this study owing to
the different surveying techniques of the maps examined. But
the study indicates that the shoreline has advanced seaward
along El-Arish coasts due to the interruption of sediment by
breakwaters of El-Arish harbor [6]. Also El-Banna and Her-
erher [8] determined the variation during 15 years in the shore-
line along 8 km including El-Arish summer resorts and El-
Arish harbor using two Satellite images.
A.A. Abu Zed et al.
The first image is a Landsat thematic mapper (TM)
acquired on November 1986 and the second is a Landsat
Enhanced TM (ETM+) acquired on March 2001. The study
had shown advancing in shoreline position west of El-Arish
harbor (20.16 m2/yr.) where the littoral transport has been
interrupted by engineering structures (jetties) while east of
El-Arish harbor is a retreating shoreline area (
11.76 m2/yr.)
[7]. El-Shoubaky [9] also studied the shoreline change along
El-Arish coast between the periods from 2000 to 2010 by ana-
lyzing satellite images NOAA (U.S. National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration)–AVHRR (Advanced Very High
Resolution Radiometer). The analyses revealed the accretion
has reached the tip of the breakwater of the intake basin of
El Arish power plant, necessitating extensive dredging inside
the basin while the east side of El Arish Harbor is in continu-
ous retreat [8].
Due to the significant importance of incessant shoreline
monitoring, the main objective of this paper is to show that
satellite image processing is a valuable resource to extract
shoreline change automatically covering large geographical
scales as well as long temporal scale. This approach could be
particularly sufficient for those areas with a lack of shoreline
records. Remote sensing and image processing analysis using
three different modules is introduced to investigate the long-
term coastal changes of El-Arish area to monitor these changes
and determine the main reasons of negative impacts to be
assessed and evaluated by any coastal construction plan to
avoid future problems. The different modules are evaluated
by the ground-measured data in the period of 1999 to 2012.
Finally, El-Arish Long-term shoreline change was calculated.
Evaluation of using satellite image 2689

Fig. 2 Exposed roots of palm trees indicating severe erosion along El-Arish beach.

Fig. 3 Wave rose along with the average orientation of El-Arish coast [17].

2. Materials and methods 2.1. Landsat imagery

Due to remarkable shoreline change and lack of the ground
measurements for El-Arish area, it is necessary to use satellite
images with a good accuracy to monitor these changes. In this
study, two sources of data are used together to perform anal-
ysis and estimation of long-term coastal changes along El-
Arish. Shoreline extracted from ten Satellite image from
1972 to 2016 (1972, 1988, 1999, 2002, 2003, 2005, 2007,
2009, 2012, and 2016) are used. Moreover, measured shoreli-
nes by Coastal Research institute and Shore Protection
Authority (CORI and SPA) for 1999, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009
and 2012 are used to evaluate the introduced satellite image
processing modules.
Change detection is the process of identifying difference in the
state of an object or phenomenon by observing it at different
times [9]. Essentially it involves the ability to quantify temporal
effects using multi-temporal data sets. Ten imagery sourced
from the USGS Earth Explorer web service scenes [10] of
Landsat-1 Multispectral Scanner (MSS), Landsat-4 Thematic
Mapper (TM), Landsat-5 Thematic Mapper (TM), Landsat-
7 Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM), and Landsat-8 Opera-
tional Land Imager and Thermal Infrared Sensor (OLI-TRIS)
covering a 44-year period from 1972 to 2016 illustrated in
Table 1 are used to monitor coastal changes along El-Arish
zone. Fortunately, the tidal range along the southeastern
2690
Mediterranean coast is small. This confirms the idea that the
tidal motion does not affect the detected boundary between
the sea and land shoreline position using Landsat [11].
In order to ensure data performance, the effect of external
(undesirable) factor is removed. All the image pre-processing
and processing procedures are carried out using ENVI 5.3 soft-
ware. In addition, automatic shoreline extraction is applied
with ArcGIS 10.1/Software package.
2.2. Image pre-processing
 Gap Fill: Due to the failure of Landsat 7 (ETM) sensor of
the Scan Line Corrector (SLC). Since that time all Landsat
ETM images have had wedge-shaped gaps on both sides of
each scene, resulting in approximately 22% data loss.
Therefore ENVI 5.3 software was used to fill these gaps.
 Geometric correction according to the metadata documen-
tation, the MSS, TM, ETM and OLI-TRIS images used in
this study are Roth-rectified products. They are indeed in
the World Geodetic System (WGS 84) datum and the
Universal Transverse Mercator (UTM) projection system.
 Radiometric correction: To compensate for difference in the
calibration of sensors of different satellites, all data were
radiometrically calibrated and converted to radiance values
using specific transformation algorithms of linear normaliz-
ing equation [12]. A full radiometric correction would
include subtraction of the atmospheric contribution, reduc-
tion of illumination, view angles and terrain effects, and
sensor calibration [13].
 Dark Object Subtraction: The dark object subtraction
(DOS) method adopts that if there are areas in an image
with very low actual reflectance values, any apparent reflec-
tance should be due to atmospheric scattering, and this
information can be used to calibrate the rest of the image.
The radiometric correction was implemented in one step
using radiometric correction tool in ENVI 5.3 software,
the needed parameters (offset/gain, sun elevation and satel-
lite viewing angles, etc.) are included with the Landsat
metadata documentation [14].
2.3. Image processing
Three modules for coastline extraction from satellite images
are used.
First module, coast line extracted by single band, because
the reflectance of water is nearly equal to zero in reflective
infrared bands and reflectance of absolute majority of land
Table 1 List of satellite images used in this study showing its properties.
Date of acquisition SPACECRAFT_ID
1972-10-22 LANDSAT_1
1988-03-24 LANDSAT_4
1999-04-16 LANDSAT_5
2002-07-05 LANDSAT_7
2003-10-20 LANDSAT_5
2005-10-01 LANDSAT_7
2007-10-23 LANDSAT_7
2009-10-28 LANDSAT_7
2012-04-27 LANDSAT_7
2016-08-20 LANDSAT_8
A.A. Abu Zed et al.
covers is greater than water. This can achieve by histogram
thresholding on the infrared bands. Among the six reflective
TM bands, mid-infrared is recommended for extracting the
land-water interface. The histogram of short-wave infrared
(SWIR) has double peaks curve due to the tiny reflection of
water and high reflectance of vegetation. The transition zone
between land and water resides between the peaks [15]. The
threshold value separating land and water could be any value
at the transition zone and consequently is not easily identified
from histogram (Binary image No. 1) [14]. Second module is
utilizing the band ratio (BR) between green band and near
infrared (NIR) band and also between green band and SWIR
and green band (Binary image No. 2). With this method we
can separate shoreline [15]. But to enhance the accuracy of sec-
ond method the Binary image extracted from SWIR band
(Binary image No.1) was multiplied with binary image No. 2
to reach the final binary image for second method (Binary
image No. 3).
Third module Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI)
from Landsat images was used after binarization to detect
shorelines. The NDWI is identified as follows:
ðGreen
NIRÞ
NDWI ¼
ðGreen þ NIRÞ
This index is designed to maximize reflectance of water
using green wave length, minimize the low reflectance of
NIR by water feature and take advanced of the high reflec-
tance of NIR by vegetation and soil feature. As a result, water
features have positive values and enhanced, while vegetation
and soil usually have zero or negative values [16]. Fig. 4 repre-
sent the steps for extracting shoreline using NDWI for the
original Satellite image in 2016 (Fig. 4A) then Fig. 4B shows
the satellite image after applying NDWI module lastly
Fig. 4C shows the binary image which used to extract shore-
line. Fig. 5 describes the flowchart for the different three mod-
ules that were used to achieve the automatic shoreline
extraction from satellite images.
3. Evaluation of using satellite images to monitor shoreline
changes
In order to evaluate detecting shoreline change using satellite
image processing, two attempts are made to compare their
results by those measured in the field at Al-Arish area.
First, the absolute error in shoreline position for different
years are calculated by constructing baseline and perpendicu-
lar cross-section every 5 m for Al-Arish area. The advance/
retreat distance between the intersections points of the
SENSOR_ID Resolution Size (Row/Path)
MSS 60 38/188
TM 30 38/175
TM 30 38/175
ETM 30 38/175
TM 30 38/175
ETM 30 38/175
ETM 30 38/175
ETM 30 38/175
ETM 30 38/175
OLI-TRIS 30 38/175
Evaluation of using satellite image 2691

Fig. 4 Shoreline extracted in El-Arish area by study method (NDWI), (A) Original Satellite image, (B) Satellite image after applying
NDWI Module equation and (C) Binary image which used for shoreline extraction.

Fig. 5 Flowchart of extracting shoreline from Landsat images using three different modules (SWIR, BR and NDWI).

cross-section with the baseline was calculated. The absolute According to the available land survey shoreline and peri-
error equals the difference between the calculated distance of ods, sub-windows were prepared from satellite images to
surveyed shoreline (d1) and satellite image shoreline (d2) match the same area and date of ground measurements. The
(Absolute Error (m) = |d1
d2|). preliminary extracted shoreline from satellite images is similar
2692
in trend and parallel to that measured shoreline for each per-
iod. The overall investigation of the absolute error for every
period revealed that the absolute error from 10 to 40 m with
maximum frequency of absolute error lies within 20 m dis-
placement, Fig. 6. The maximum quantity of the error might
be due to the effect of mixed pixel and the reflection value
for separation process between water and the shoreline was
chosen such that the geomorphology of the study area should
be presented clear particularly the two jetties of the harbor
(sold objects, high reflection) is greatly different from that of
mixed pixel sand beach and sea water. Hence to minimize
the absolute error, the extracted shorelines have been biased
by 20 m to inland direction. Fig. 7 shows the absolute error
after correction.
After applying the correction for all extracted shorelines,
the absolute error reduced than that before correction about
10–20 m displacement. Where the comparison between the
measured and extracted shoreline during 1999, 2005, 2007,
2009 and 2012 (Fig. 8(a, c, d, e and f) and Tables 2–4) show
that for the three techniques, the majority of the absolute error
(92–100%) lies within displacement distance (advance/retreat)
less than or equal 25 m and the rest (minor percentage about
8%) of that error limited at distance greater than 25–40 m.
Only for SWIR method during 1999 the displacement distance
increased to about 35 m and 50 m for 92% and 100%,
respectively.
During 2002, 100% of the absolute errors between the mea-
sured and extracted shoreline limited within the distance less
than or equal 30 m (less than or equal 25 m before correction)
for the three techniques (Fig. 8b and Table 2).
In addition, a comparison of the shoreline change (erosion/
accretion) abstracted by remote sensing (d2) and ground sur-
vey data (d1) for each year (1999, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009 &
2012) using correlation coefficient analysis shows strong rela-
tion (significant 99% (Table 5) confidence level). Hence, satel-
lite image is viable for quantify temporal and spatial shoreline
changes using the three techniques.
Second, according to the available spatial and temporal
land survey data measurements, two profiles (P1 and P2)
located 4800 and 5220 m respectively west of Al-Arish harbor
were defined at accretion area while another two profiles (P3
and P4) located 3600 and 3975 m east of the harbor were
defined at erosion area as shown in Fig. 9. The accretion rate
Fig. 6 Cumulative absolute error frequency for three modules
before correction.
A.A. Abu Zed et al.
Fig. 7 Cumulative absolute error frequency for three modules
after correction.
is calculated based on the measured data and compared with
those abstracted by the three satellite image modules for six
years (1999, 2002, 2005, 2007, 2009 & 2012) while the erosion
rate is performed for three years (1999, 2001 & 2009).
Comparison results shown in Fig. 10 revealed agreement in
the trends of erosion (retreat shoreline) and accretion
(advanced shoreline) behaviors between the ground measure-
ments and Satellite image produced shoreline change using
the three different remote sensing modules (SWIR, BR, and
NDWI).
Comparing the two techniques, it is apparent that west of
the harbor (Profile P1) accreting at annual rate of 7.92 m/yr.
in ground survey and 7.2, 7.27 and 7.54 m/yr. in images for
SWIR, BR and NDWI, respectively. Profile P2 behavior is
accretion at annual rate 3.92 m/yr. in ground survey and 3.4,
3.6 and 3.8 m/yr. for SWIR, BR and NDWI, respectively.
On the other hand the annual erosion rate along east of the
harbor (profile P3) is
3.49 m/yr. in ground survey and

4.8,
4.42 and
3.1 m/yr. for SWIR, BR and NDWI,
respectively. Profile P4 is erosion at annual rate
3.49 m/yr.
in ground survey and
3.7,
3.83 and
2.9 m/yr. in images
for SWIR, BR and NDWI, respectively. Comparison between
shoreline change rates from ground survey and those
abstracted using three modules revealed that there is a strong
agreement in shoreline trends. However, the rate of magni-
tudes of these changes is slightly difference. Consequently
shoreline extracted from satellite images and from ground
measurements can be used to evaluate long-term shoreline
changes and NDWI Module gives a best fit trend with Mini-
mum Absolute error.
4. El-Arish coastal zone long term shoreline change
El-Arish coastal zone was divided into 5 sectors according to
infrastructure development and the behavior of the stretched
zone as shown in Fig. 11.
Zone (1) extends about 2325 m west of El-Arish power
plant as shown in Fig. 12. During the period (1972–1988)
shoreline advance take place along the coastal zone with aver-
age rate 0.94 m/yr. From 1988 to 1999 the shoreline west of the
intake of the Power plant experiences a significant accretion
with maximum advance 98 m (8.91 m/yr.) and average
34.1 m (3.1 m/yr.). The relatively high rate of accretion
Evaluation of using satellite image
Fig. 8 Absolute Error frequency for three modules after correction for shoreline dates 1999 (a), 2002 (b), 2005 (c), 2007 (d), 2009 (e) and
2012 (f).
occurring in this area is due to the construction of breakwater
to protect the intake of electric power plant (1993–1995),
where the littoral transport has been interrupted and caused
siltation at up-drift (west of the power plant) and erosion east
of it (along of the touristic villages).
From 1999 to 2005 sedimentation was continuous with
small rate (1.32 m/yr.). Between 2005 and 2009, the shoreline
extended 600 m west of the breakwater reversed to erosion
with average 10 m shoreline retreat, which may be due to
dredging of the sediment in the up-drift to prevent sand
bypass to the east direction and silting the intake of the
2693
power plant. Whereas, the shoreline extended to the west of
these area characterized by shoreline advance with average
displacement 4.12 m. From 2009 to 2012 the shoreline
advanced with very small rate 1.48 m/yr. From 2012 to
2016 the shoreline west of the power plant retreats with aver-
age rate (2.2 m/yr.).
Zone 2 starting from the power plant location and extends
to the east 8100 m as shown in Figs. 13 and 14. From 1972 to
1988 generally the shoreline advanced with an average rate
0.6 m/yr. From 1988 to 1999 the shoreline retreated (erosion)
in front of the outlet of the power plant, which may be due
2694 A.A. Abu Zed et al.

Table 2 Absolute error frequency for three methods shoreline 1999 and 2002 after correction.
Abs error (m) SWIR Band ratio NDWI
Freq. Cum. Freq. Cum. Freq. Cum.
1999
0–5 101 10.18% 314 31.65% 401 40.42%
5–10 78 18.04% 208 52.62% 320 72.68%
10–15 205 38.71% 171 69.86% 224 95.26%
15–20 189 57.76% 152 85.18% 25 97.78%
20–25 160 73.89% 118 97.08% 12 98.99%
25–30 100 83.97% 26 99.70% 7 99.70%
30–35 79 91.94% 3 100.0% 3 100.0%
35–40 41 96.07%
40–45 25 98.59%
45–50 14 100.0%
Sum 992 992 992

2002
0–5 10 1.27% 56 7.12% 36 0.13%
5–10 147 19.95% 182 30.24% 192 4.70%
10–15 321 60.74% 207 56.54% 299 29.10%
15–20 169 82.21% 182 79.67% 203 67.09%
20–25 124 97.97% 152 98.98% 56 92.88%
25–30 16 100.0% 8 100.0% 1 100.0%
Sum 787 787 787

Table 3 Absolute error frequency for three methods shoreline 2005 and 2007 after correction.
Abs error (m) SWIR Band ratio NDWI
Freq. Cum. Freq. Cum. Freq. Cum.
2005
0–5 1794 38.17% 2261 48.11% 2137 45.47%
5–10 1406 68.09% 1501 80.04% 1375 74.72%
10–15 858 86.34% 451 89.64% 781 91.34%
15–20 360 94.00% 190 93.68% 247 96.60%
20–25 120 96.55% 77 95.32% 45 97.55%
25–30 49 97.60% 59 96.57% 31 98.21%
30–35 17 97.96% 90 98.48% 48 99.23%
35–40 52 99.06% 71 100.0% 36 100.0%
40–45 44 100.0%
Sum 4700 4700 4700

2007
0–5 1247 41.54% 1200 39.99% 1319 43.95%
5–10 840 69.52% 863 68.74% 856 72.48%
10–15 505 86.34% 476 84.61% 387 85.37%
15–20 252 94.74% 206 91.47% 251 93.74%
20–25 131 99.10% 96 94.67% 98 97.00%
25–30 16 99.63% 68 96.93% 33 98.10%
30–35 11 100.0% 43 98.33% 37 99.67%
35–40 50 100.0% 21 100.0%
Sum 3002 3002 3002

to the impact of the flow from the outlet which prevented the
sediment from sink, hence the erosion has maximum rate

3.72 m/yr. Whereas the remainder of shoreline shows fluctu-
ation between erosion and accretion with small rate.
During the period from 1999 to 2005 the sediment at the
west side of the power plant reached the tip of the western
breakwater, hence sediment started to bypass the breakwater
to the east side, hence the area in front of the outfall reversed
to accretion. During the period from 2005 to 2009 and from
2009 to 2012, accretion was continued in front of the outfall,
whereas the remainder shoreline characterized by fluctuated
between accretion and erosion.
Evaluation of using satellite image 2695

Table 4 Absolute error frequency for three methods shoreline 2009 and 2012 after correction.
Abs error (m) SWIR Band ratio NDWI
Freq. Cum. Freq. Cum. Freq. Cum.
2009
0–5 689 31.78% 624 28.78% 648 29.88%
5–10 653 61.90% 585 55.76% 552 55.33%
10–15 348 77.95% 385 73.52% 406 74.04%
15–20 253 89.62% 220 83.67% 268 86.40%
20–25 136 95.89% 147 90.46% 127 92.25%
25–30 51 98.25% 104 95.24% 108 97.23%
30–35 38 100.00% 69 98.44% 40 99.08%
35–40 34 100.00% 19 100.00%
Sum 2168 2168 2168

2012
0–5 288 288 280
5–10 288 33.26% 263 32.33% 495 57.16%
10–15 266 63.97% 186 62.70% 240 84.87%
15–20 184 85.22% 76 84.18% 85 94.69%
20–25 72 93.53.% 31 92.96% 31 98.27%
25–30 43 98.50% 23 96.54% 15 100.00%
30–35 13 100.0% 7 99.19%
35–40 100.00%
Sum 886 866 886

(8.23 m/yr.), respectively. The width of the beach along El-

Table 5 Correlation coefficient for different modules used to
Arish city is narrow, where the maximum width does not
extract shorelines along El-Arish area and ground
exceed 30 m; according to this situation the Cornish was
measurements.
threatened by the effect of dynamical factors (waves and cur-
Year Correlation coefficient rents). In 2002, Northern Sinai Governorate asked Shore Pro-
SWIR Band ratio NDWI tection Authority (SPA) to investigate this problem and
1999 0.991076 0.992200 0.992832
propose a reasonable solution. SPA implemented 7 groins in
2002 0.993240 0.990219 0.994039 2005 to protect El-Arish city from wave attack. Hence, From
2005 0.999543 0.999573 0.999597 1999 to 2005 the shoreline advanced in the location of the first
2007 0.999443 0.999173 0.999329 5 groins with average displacement 12.8 m (2.13 m/yr.), fol-
2009 0.997160 0.997081 0.998094 lowed by erosion area located east of the five groins with max-
2012 0.999958 0.999952 0.999961 imum and average retreat displacement distance
5.32 m/yr.
and
1.83 m/yr., respectively. The area located at just west
of the harbor and extends about 2100 m revealed continuous
accretion behavior with maximum shore line advance rate
(11.8 m/yr.) and average rate (6.375 m/yr.). This might be
After 2011, dredging of the sediment in the up-drift of the attributed to the impact of the western jetty of El-Arish har-
intake jetty was implemented and a large amount of sediment bor, which interrupts the littoral sand transport and sink at
was removed in order to prevent sediment bypass to the east up drift of the harbor. During 2007–2008 s series of 11 short
and close the intake (personal communication). Accordingly, groins were constructed together with artificial feeding of the
during the period from 2012 to 2016 the shoreline behavior beach to solve erosion problem (personal communication).
was reversed in front of the outlet with average erosion rate According to the new situation, during the period from 2005

5.75 m/yr. to 2009 the shoreline presents accretion and advanced along
Zone 3 extends about 6600 m west of El-Arish Harbor. El- the area of the constructed groins with maximum rate
Arish harbor and its two jetties have been constructed during (7.35 m/yr.) and average rate (7.75 m/yr.) The erosion process
the period from 1982 to 1987. The western jetty interrupts the transported to east direction, hence the behavior of the area
eastern sediment transport, hence, the shoreline from 1972 to located east of groin number 18 shows erosion with maximum
1988 show a massive amount of sedimentation and shoreline rate (
13.08 m/yr.) and average (
5.7 m/yr.).
advanced with maximum displace distance 227.5 m (14.22 m/ From 2011 to 2012 SPA implemented the third series of 5
yr.) and average 69 m (4.31 m/yr.). From 1988 to 1999 shore- groins to protect the eastern area of G18 from extensive ero-
line revealed fluctuation between erosion and accretion, except sion. In addition the very short protection work of the storm
the area located immediate west of the harbor and extended water drains. Accordingly, from 2009 till 2012 the behavior
about 1725 m shows high rate of accretion with maximum of the shoreline east of G18 was reversed to accretion with
and average advance 143.6 m (13.1 m/yr.) and 90.5 m maximum rate (26.6 m/yr.) and prevents the sediment to
2696 A.A. Abu Zed et al.

Fig. 9 Selected location for the accretion profiles (P1 and P2) and erosion profiles (P3 and P4).

Fig. 10 Shoreline change rates for the selected four profiles using different modules (a) shoreline accretion rates at section P1, (b)
shoreline accretion rates at section P2, (c) shoreline erosion rates at section P3, (d) shoreline erosion rates at section P4.

approach the western jetty of El-Arish harbor. Hence, the
western side of the western jetty reversed to erosion with small
rate (
2.63 m/yr.).
From 2012 to 2016 the shoreline characterized by erosion
along the whole zone with average shoreline retreat about
(
3.58 m/yr.), except the area extended from G19 (east of
groin number 19) up to the western side of the harbor presents
accretion with maximum rate of displacement 15.25 m/yr. and
average 6.31 m/yr.
Figs. 15–17 shows a net shoreline change along zone 3 and
four intervals for shorelines.
Zone 4 extends about 3375 m east of El-Arish harbor. This
zone presents sever erosion (the down drift of the harbor) as
shown in Fig. 18. To mitigate this erosion a total of 13 short
groins were constructed (1988–1990) together with artificial
sand nourishment of the beach.
From 1988 to 1989, Shore Protection Authority (SPA)
implemented first series of five groins to solve the side impacts
Evaluation of using satellite image 2697

Fig. 11 Clarification for the location of the different Zones along the study area.

Fig. 12 Shoreline change along Zone 1 west El-Arish Power Plant 2325 m.

of constructing El-Arish Harbor in 1982–1987. Accordingly,
the shoreline behavior from 1972 to 1988 reversed to accretion
in the location of five groins with average advance rate 1.5 m/yr.
and erosion transported to the east of the implemented groins
with average shoreline retreat rate
2.75 m/yr. In 1990 SPA
constructed the second series of eight groins to mitigate the ero-
sion problem transported east of the first 5 groins.
From 1988 to 1999 shoreline along the first 5 groins
reversed to erosion with average retreat rate
1.9 m/yr.,
while along the next 8 groins (groin 6 to groin 13) the shore-
line advanced with average rate 2.2 m/yr. From 1999 to 2005
the shoreline revealed fluctuation between erosion and accre-
tion, whereas from groin 6 to groin 10 the shoreline shows
erosion with average rate (
3.33 m/yr.). In 2005, SPA nour-
ishment the area located east of groin13 by about
300,000 m3 artificial sand. The introduced sand was washed
out and beach erosion is still continuing (personal
communication).
2698 A.A. Abu Zed et al.

Fig. 13 Shoreline change along Zone 2_2 east El-Arish Power Plant 2800 m.

Fig. 14 Shoreline change along Zone 2_2 east El-Arish Power Plant m.

During the period from 2005 till 2009 the shoreline fluctu-
ated between erosion and accretion. From 2009 to 2012 gener-
ally the shoreline revealed erosion with maximum and average
retreat displacement distance (
2.77 m/yr.) and (
18 m/yr.),
respectively.
From 2012 to 2016 according to the National plan project
to develop the harbor the western jetty of the harbor was
extended to 1180 m. Accordingly, the shoreline advanced at
the shadow area of the harbor jetties with maximum rate
(19.2 m/yr.), while east of the shadow area the shoreline retreat
with average rate (
3.4 m/yr.).
Zone 5 extends about 9000 m east of El-Arish Harbor. Four
interval of shoreline illustrated in Fig. 19 and a net shoreline
change from 1972 to 2016 .From 1972 to 1988 the behavior
of this zone was fluctuation between erosion and accretion.
The first 3 km has shoreline retreat with average rate
(
0.89 m/yr.), followed by accretion extends to 3600 m with
shoreline advanced with average rate 0.906 m/yr.
Evaluation of using satellite image 2699

Fig. 15 Shoreline change along Zone 3_1 west El-Arish harbor 1300 m.

Fig. 16 Shoreline change along Zone 3_2 west El Arish harbor 3800 m.

From 1988 to 1999, the first 2000 m east of groin 13
characterized by high erosion rate with average retreat
(
10 m/yr.) (This may be due to the effect of the constructed
13 groins), followed by smaller average erosion rate
(
5m/yr.) The next 3500 m also shows erosion with very small
rates (
1.55 m/yr.) followed by area extended about 3500 m
revealed shoreline advance with average rate (1.23 m/yr.).
From 1999 to 2005 the shoreline behavior fluctuates
between erosion and accretion. The first 1500 m next to
groin 13 eroded with average shoreline retreat rate

(2.25 m/yr.) followed by 500 m shoreline advanced with
average rate (1.1 m/yr.) followed by 5325 shoreline retreat
with average rate (1.78 m/yr.) the remain shoreline
revealed accretion with shoreline advance with average
rate (1.54 m/yr.).
From 2005 to 2009 the first area extends 1125 m shows ero-
sion with average shoreline retreat (
8.8 m/yr.) followed by
shoreline fluctuated between erosion and accretion.
2700 A.A. Abu Zed et al.

Fig. 17 Shoreline change along Zone 3_3 west El Arish harbor 1500 m.

Fig. 18 Shoreline change along Zone 4 east El Arish harbor 3375 m.

From 2009 to 2012 the first area extends 7500 m character-
ized by erosion with average shoreline retreat rate (
5.2 m/yr.)
followed by 1500 m where the shoreline advanced with average
rate (2.25 m/yr.).
From 2012 to 2016 the shoreline retreated with average rate
about (
4.2/yr.), with the existence of very small-scattered
areas shows shore advance with very small rate.
Generally table 6 illustrates the average and maximum
change in different zones
 Zone one: is characterized by shoreline advance with
average rate 1.4 m/yr. while the maximum advance rate
2.13 m/yr. located immediately west El-Arish Power plant
breakwater.
 Zone two: is dynamically equilibrium with slight erosion
rate
0.05 m/yr., the equilibrium might be due to equaliza-
tion of the amount of erosion with artificial sand nourish-
ment implemented by SPA and sediment bypass from the
western side of the breakwater. The maximum shoreline
Evaluation of using satellite image
Fig. 19 Shoreline change along Zone 5 east El Arish harbor 9000 m.
Table 6 Average and maximum displacement rate (m/year) for different zones.
2016–1972 Zone 1 Zone 2
Average shoreline rate 1.40
0.05
Max shoreline change rate 2.13
0.55
retreat is – 0.55 m/yr. east of EL-Arish Power plant (in
front of the out fall of the power plant).
 Zone three: is characterized by shoreline advance with aver-
age rate 2.88 m/yr. and high maximum shoreline advance
rate 9.8 m/yr. immediately west El-Arish harbor which
might be due to the impact 23 groins executed along this
zone and the western jetty of the harbor.
 Zone four: this zone suffers from erosion problem with an
average rate
0.83 m/yr. and maximum erosion located
between groin 6 and 7 east El-Arish Harbor of with maxi-
mum rate
2.09 m/yr., which might be due to that western
jetty of El-Arish harbor blocked the sediment movement at
the western side of it.
 Zone five: is located east of the protected area by 13 groins
characterized by shoreline retreat with an average rate

1.1 m/yr. and maximum erosion rate
4.03 m/yr. located
east of groin 13.
5. Conclusion
El-Arish Coastal zone is a one of the most important and
beautiful beaches along northern Sinai coast. In a natural envi-
ronment erosion and accretion at a certain area are normally
dynamically balance. This study clearly proves that the inte-
gration of remote sensing and GIS technology is very useful
for long-term shoreline change studies with reasonable accu-
2701
Zone 3 Zone 4 Zone 5
2.88
0.83
1.10
9.8
2.09
4.03
racy. The result of shoreline change is more useful for coastal
engineers and coastal zone management authorities to facili-
tate suitable management plans and regulation of coastal
zones. Three modules for shoreline extraction from satellite
image were applied (SWIR-BR-NDWI) and then two attempts
were applied to evaluate using satellite image in detecting
shoreline change and to choose the best method regarding
El-Arish Coastal zone. NDWI module gives the best result,
as 90% of its error doesn’t exceed 25 m that is considered
within the satellite image resolution. As a result, NDWI mod-
ule was applied to calculate the long-term shoreline change in
El-Arish Coastal Zone from 1972 to 2016. El-Arish coastal
zone extends about 30 km could be divided into five sectors:
a. Zone 1, extends about 2325 m west of the power plant,
this zone influenced by construction of power plant,
where shoreline advanced with an average rate 1.4 m/yr.
b. Zone 2, extends about 8100 m east of El-Arish power
plant, this zone fluctuated between erosion and accre-
tion, while the area in front of the outfall revealed ero-
sion with maximum shoreline retreat is – 0.58 m/yr.
east of EL-Arish Power
c. Zone 3, extends about 6600 m west of El-Arish harbor
and a series of 23 groins located in it. It is obvious that
implementing 23 groins distributed along about 4.0 km
west El-Arish Harbor and the long western Jetty of
the harbor working as group in a semi closed system
 2702
and helping in improving the shoreline behavior and
help in gain sediment in front of El-Arish city
d. Zone 4, extends about 3375 m starting directly from east
of El-Arish harbor and contains a series of 13 groins.
The overall pattern revealed that the construction of
the harbor and the two jetties has a great impact along
the whole area located east of it. The first 75 m east of
it (shadow of the jetties) characterized by accretion,
while the area of the constructed 13 groins experienced
erosion with relatively small rate with average shoreline
retreat rate (
0.83 m/yr.). This might be attributed to
that the thirteen groins reduced the negative impacts
of El-Arish harbor & its jetties
e. Zone 5, extends about 9 km east of groin 13 (last groin
implemented at east side of the harbor). This zone
located down drift of the long jetty of the harbor in
additions to the 13 groins; hence it suffers from massive
erosion with Maximum rate (
4.03 m/yr.) located
directly east of Groin number 13. The erosion rate
reduced going away from the groins to east direction.
The overall study revealed that the behavior of the man-
made constructions along the study area is to interrupt the
long-shore sediment transport that cause severe shoreline
changes meanwhile the integrated coastal zone management
(ICZM) for the Egyptian coast is essential to get the sustain-
able development.
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