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Shoreline Change Analysis for Northern Part of the Coromandel Coast

Article  in  Aquatic Procedia · December 2015

DOI: 10.1016/j.aqpro.2015.02.043

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Salghuna Nair Aravind Bharathvaj

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Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 317 – 324

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON WATER RESOURCES, COASTAL AND OCEAN

ENGINEERING (ICWRCOE 2015)

Shoreline Change Analysis For Northern Part Of The Coromandel

Coast
N.N.Salghunaa*, S.Aravind Bharathvaja
a
Center for Remote Sensing, Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, TamilNadu, India

Abstract

The shoreline is a more dynamic, and complex region of all geological features present, as it has a mixed results of tidal, Aeolian,
tectonic, and sometimes riverine activity. The shoreline change has its impact, but which is not so visible. To observe this we
need a long and continuous set of data. The following project is done for a shoreline length of approximately 112 km of the North
of the Coramandal Coast, as a trial and error work covering the major settlements of Puducherry, Cuddalore, and Chidambaram.
Data used are derived from 1972 (from SOI Toposheets), to TM data of 2013. To derive the Shoreline from the satellite data,
band ratio of Red band to IR band is done. The shorelines are digitized and saved along with the appropriate MM/DD/YYYY
added to the attribute table. Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) is an extension for the ArcGIS, developed by USGS.
Using the extension, transects are laid for every 50 m. Then using LINEAR REGRESSION RATE (LRR), the change for every
50 meter is analysed and stored in a table. And using the table, the Erosion and Accretion, are analysed, and understood. Total
area eroded is 12.93 sq. Km, and the length is of 99.36 Km. The area of Accretion is 1.73 Km2, in a length of 22 Km.
© 2015
© 2015TheTheAuthors.
Authors.Published
Publishedby by Elsevier
Elsevier B.V.B.V.
This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015.
(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015

Keywords: Shoreline change; Remote Sensin; GIS; DSAS

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +0-000-000-0000 ; fax: +0-000-000-0000 .

E-mail address: salghuna@gmail.com

2214-241X © 2015 The Authors. Published 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/).
Peer-review under responsibility of organizing committee of ICWRCOE 2015
doi:10.1016/j.aqpro.2015.02.043
318 N.N. Salghuna and S. Aravind Bharathvaj / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 317 – 324

1. Shoreline

The boundary between land and sea keeps changing its shape and position continuously due to dynamic
environmental conditions. The change in shoreline is mainly associated with waves, tides, winds, periodic storms,
sea-level change, and the geomorphic processes of erosion and accretion and human activities. Shoreline also depicts
the recent formations and destructions that have happened along the shore. Waves change the coastline morphology
and form the distinctive coastal landforms. The loose granular sediments continuously respond to the ever-changing
waves and currents. The beach profile is important, in that it can be viewed as an effective natural mechanism, which
causes waves to break and dissipate their energy. When breakwaters are constructed, they upset the natural
equilibrium between the sources of beach sediment and the littoral drift pattern. In response, shoreline changes its
configuration in attempt to reach a new equilibrium (Ramesh and Ramachandran 2001). Monitoring changes in
shoreline helps to identify the nature and processes that caused these changes in any specific area, to assess the
human impact and to plan management strategies. Remote sensing data could be used effectively to monitor the
changes along the coastal zone including shoreline with reasonable accuracy.

1.1 Natural shoreline dynamics

Shoreline ‘state’, that is the trend in the location of the shoreline, can generally be classified into three categories
viz. Eroding (shoreline is retreating landward), Equilibrium (shoreline is generally stable) and Accreting (shoreline
is extending seaward). These three states are related to five key factors, namely, sediment supply to the beach, wave
energy, sea-level change, location of shoreline and man-made modification to shoreline. The regional scale analysis
suggests that the shoreline plays a significant role in the estuarine system. (Lisa Cowart et.al, 2011)

2. Study Area

2.1 Location

In the globe, the study area lies from 12˚16’ N and 80˚ E to 11˚15’ N and 79˚50’ E. The total length of the coast
under study is 122.158 kilometres. The study area comprises of major settlements such as Pondicherry, Cuddalore,
Chidambaram, and Sirkazhi and number of minor settlements. NH 65 and other number of roads are been
sufficiently used by the public for the transportation. There are number of water bodies that are seen in the study
area. Generally fishing on the shore, aqua cultural by the near shore area and agricultural cultivation in the land is
being mainly adapted. The rivers flowing are Sankarabarani, Ponnaiyar, Gadilam, Uppanar, Vellar and Coleroon

2.2 Methodology and Data Acquisition

The methodology flowchart, adopted for the entire study is given in the figure 1. The satellite data used for this
study is acquired from the GLOVIS and EARTH EXPLORER sites, maintained by USGS. The MSS, TM, ETM+
data products of the LANDSAT series for various years from 1980 to 2009. The data used for the study were
selected based on the criteria of Cloud cover less than 10%, season in which the data was acquired. Because of this,
the periodical gap was not possible to maintain. The Survey of India toposheet of scale 1:50,000 was taken as the
control for the satellite data, and also the base line for the study was derived from it.
 N.N. Salghuna and S. Aravind Bharathvaj / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 317 – 324 319

2.3 Methodology

Fig1: Methodology for Shoreline Change

3. Data Processing

The analysis part for the study area is done by direct as well as visually interpreted from the satellite data. The
data was processed for getting a basic information and idea of various parameters about the study area. The data
used in this study is a wide range of data varying in spatial and spectral resolution. The data used for the study are
LANDSAT MSS (August 1980), LANDSAT TM (September 2006; July 2009, July 2013), LANDSAT ETM
(November 1999; October 2000; September 2001; January 2002, September 2011). Along with these data, the
shoreline from the Survey of India toposheet (for IDs see study area) for the study area is also taken. So Image
Processing was done for various purposes as described below.

3.1 Preparing FCC

For visual interpretation of the data a False Colour Composite, which is a combination of IR, Red and Green
positioned in R, G, B respectively is used. This is because the data we are using has a low resolution, about 1m to
sometimes 120m. So every pixel indicates an average value of a large area. The True Colour Composite of RGB
may be inefficient in such situations. But the use of FCC greatly improves our understanding of various features in a
data. The data acquired were of individual bands. So the bands required for the FCC were added and the FCC was
created in ENVI and the same output was saved.

3.2 Band Ratio

320 N.N. Salghuna and S. Aravind Bharathvaj / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 317 – 324

For analysing the shoreline change, we have to derive it from the satellite data. But the FCC has its own
characteristics such as the transmissivity of water in shallow depth and the suspended sediments influence in the
satellite data. The extension of the sand in the beach into the sea for shallow depth will influence error in delineating
the land and water boundary. So the BAND RATIOING technique is used for delineation of the shoreline. The Red
band (Band 2 in TM, ETM and Band 4 in MSS) has its property of being absorbed by water, and only will be
reflected in land. But on the other hand in the Infrared, this work in adverse, i.e., the water reflects the spectrum
more in comparison to land. So the Band Red is divided by Band IR which provides the clear demarcation of water
bodies and land. From the output, the shoreline was created in GIS. The shorelines were prepared for the years 1980,
1999, 2000, 2001, 2002 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2013

4. Analysis

The shoreline change analysis is done by using the USGS provided DSAS 4.3 (Digital Shoreline Analysis
System) which is an additional ‘Extension’ for ArcGIS. Shorelines were created from the output of band ratio of
bands Red and IR. All the shorelines were added in a single shape file in a Personal Geodatabase. For every
shoreline, the date from which the shoreline is made must be added in the attribute as MM/DD/YYYY. A Baseline,
from which the changes are to be calculated, is required in another shape file in the same Database. The actual
baseline taken is 1972. But Since then, the coast has undergone both erosion and accretion in various regions. So the
coastline of the 1972 toposheet was buffered for a 1000 meters in the offshore and it is used as baseline. Using
DSAS, transects are laid for 2500 meters perpendicular to the shore for every 50 meters along the shore for the
entire shoreline from the baseline.
For the computation of the shoreline change, many methods were available in the DSAS, but the LINEAR
REGRESSION RATE method is used in this study as it has the capability to use more than two shorelines. A linear
regression rate-of-change statistic can be determined by fitting a least-squares regression line to all shoreline points
for a particular transect. The regression line is placed so that the sum of the squared residuals (determined by
squaring the offset distance of each data point from the regression line and adding the squared residuals together) is
minimized. The linear regression rate is the slope of the line. The method of linear regression includes these features:
1) All the data are used, regardless of changes in trend or accuracy, 2) The method is purely computational, 3) The
calculation is based on accepted statistical concepts, and 4) The method is easy to employ (Dolan and others, 1991).
However, the linear regression method is susceptible to outlier effects and also tends to underestimate the rate of
change relative to other statistics, such as EPR (Dolan and others, 1991; Genz and others, 2007). In conjunction with
the linear regression rate, the standard error of the estimate (LSE), the standard error of the slope with user-selected
confidence interval (LCI), and the R-squared value (LR2) are reported.
In the current study, the shorelines analysed are of 1972, 1980, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2006, 2009, 2011 and
2013. The above years were added in order to identify the rate of change of shoreline. After the statistics are run, a
table is created as an output in the same Geodatabase. The output is given in the format of a table from which points
were derived and the calculations were made. Later the buffered distance is retaliated by adding 1000m to the value
calculated. Then the shorelines of each year are separately exported as new individual tables. The tables were plotted
as points and polygons were created marking the erosion and accretion. The values are if in positive, then it is
accretion, and if in negative, then it is erosion.
 N.N. Salghuna and S. Aravind Bharathvaj / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 317 – 324 321

Fig 2 Example for Linear Regression Rate Calculation

5. Results and Discussion:

The analysis from the various above said coastlines using the DSAS toolbar have shown that the current
coast is clearly an eroding coast. Accretion is seen in minor scale in some parts of the coast, that too intermittently.
Of the 112 Km long coast, approximately 82% of the coast is eroding. This is mainly because of

x The coast of Puducherry and Cuddalore, by many evidences and various theories, is subsiding. The French
Government which ruled the Puducherry once has created a Sea Wall in the coast of the Heritage town to prevent
sea water coming into the land.

x This natural process is further accelerated due to construction of Ports and Harbours without any prior
understanding of the effect of the littoral currents in the region. This has evidently increased the erosion on the
Northern part of the harbour, and accretion in the southern part, in accordance to the littoral current pattern of our
country. The shoreline change has made the local people such as the fishermen, to move into the land. Many
houses were built over the stable Sand Dunes. The paleo-beach ridges were also destroyed due to continuous
erosion. There is a severe change in the erosion and accretion. The erosion has gone at some places above 400
meters whereas accretion is only 235 meters is the maximum accretion seen from the year 1972. Maximum
erosion is seen where a spit was present in 1972 survey of India toposheet. The total length and area of accretion
and erosion is given below

Table 1- Summary of the Result

Result Area (Sq. Km) Length (Km)

Erosion 14.7856 95.3408
322 N.N. Salghuna and S. Aravind Bharathvaj / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 317 – 324

Accretion 1.85607 23.0998

No Change N/A 0.31369

From the various data sets, used to estimate the shoreline change, the change rate of the coast varies randomly
for every alternating erosion and accretion. But the overall average change of the coast shows an erosion rate of
around 1 meter. According to the length eroded and accreted the erosion and accretion and erosion is categorized
into Very high, High, Moderate, Low erosion and accretion.

Conclusions

The shoreline, on a long term of about 40 years, has undergone lot of erosion, in almost all perts of the study
area, other than the moths of Vellar, and Coleroon. Seeing holistically, the northern part of the study area given in
part A has undergone severe erosion which is most probably because of the reason that the littoral currents have null
or very minimal effect in the coast of Puducherry and Cuddalore, because of the artificial coasts, and seawall
constructions. The effect of the artificial coast is so evident that the North and South of the artificial coast has
severely eroded, and the artificial coast stands in contrast. This was also in accordance to the field visit.
Seeing on the short term variations, There has been a general trend of erosion from the base year of observation,
1972 (SOI Toposheet) to 1980 (LANDSAT MSS) which accounts for around 12.65 Km 2. But then, the there is a
change of trend from 1980-1999 where the coast shows a depositional environment, for about 4.9 Km2, and erosion
for 2.15 Km2, which, comparatively a strong change in the trend of the coast. This, again continues for further short
terms for the time between 1999-2s002, Where the accretion has dominated, creating deposits for 7.53 Km2, and
erosion in the region is a mere 0.408Km2, and major erosion is seen in the north side of the mouth of Coleroon
(0.181 Km2). This accretion might have been due to the sediment dump in the Bay of Bengal, from the rivers, which
got re distributed along the coast.
But again, in-between the period of 2002-2006 the whole shore has undergone erosion of about 6.03 Km2,
which is most probably due to the Tsunami in the Indian Ocean, on December 24, 2004. Due to the lack of data
availability, this is still a probable conclusion only. Accretion is seen in the shore of Puducherry, owing to the
construction of a harbor, which became fully functional in the year 2003. From 2006 to 2009, up to which the study
has been done, the area of accretion is only 0.1 Km2, but the area eroded is 4.65 Km2.
Thus, with a\ bird’s eye view of time the whole coast has undergone erosion, and a very little accretion. This
study has given a better understanding of the nature of the coast, or in other words, add additional proof that the
region is under submerging as already given by S.M.Ramasamy (1998). With additional resources, the study could
be updated, and we can get clear reasons for the accretion in-between 1980-2002, and verify the reason for current
erosion.
N.N. Salghuna and S. Aravind Bharathvaj / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 317 – 324 323
324 N.N. Salghuna and S. Aravind Bharathvaj / Aquatic Procedia 4 (2015) 317 – 324

Fig 3: Shoreline Change Analysis in Coromandal coast (A, B, C, D, E)

References

Cowart, L., Reide Corbett, D., & Walsh, J. P. (2011). Shoreline change along sheltered coastlines: Insights from the neuse river estuary, NC,
USA. Remote Sensing, 3, 1516–1534. doi:10.3390/rs3071516
Dolan R, Fenster M S, Stuart J, et al. (1991) Temporal analysis of shoreline recession and accretion [J]. Journal of Coastal Research, 7(3): 723–
744
Kumaravel.S et.al., “Quantitative estimation of shoreline changes using remote sensing and GIS: A case study in the parts of Cuddalore district,
East coast of Tamil Nadu, India” INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES Volume 2, No 4, 2012
Ramasamy, S.M. and Karthikeyan, N., 1998, Pleistocene/Holocene graben along the Pondicherry–Cumbam Valley, Tamil Nadu, India. Geocarto
International, 13, pp. 83–90

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