Long-term coastal erosion assessment along the coast of Karnataka, west coast of India

Abstract

Abstract Coastal areas are always under frequent threat from various natural processes and man-induced activities. Coastal erosion is recognized as the permanent loss of land along the shoreline resulting in the transformation of the coast. The current study focuses on long-term coastal erosion analysis of the entire Karnataka coast using Remote Sensing, Geographical Information System (GIS), Linear Regression Rate (LRR), and End Point Rate (EPR) techniques. Analysis of 26 (1990 to 2016) years of erosion using Landsat images by the use of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) tool has been done. The results show a high erosion rate at Ullal during this period (LRR -1.3\u202fm/yr) and accretion at Devbagh (LRR 3.2\u202fm/yr). The southern Karnataka coast faces severe erosion especially at Ullal, where the settlement is high. At Thanirbhavi, Mukka, Kota, and Om Beaches erosion also is noticed. Both anthropogenic activities like ports, seawalls, breakwaters, etc. and natural processes like long shore drift, seasonal variation, etc. are factors affecting the shoreline change along the Karnataka coast.