Application of Landsat Imagery and Vegetation Index Property to Assess the Shoreline Changes Along Cox’s Bazar–Teknaf Coast

Abstract

Bangladesh is located at the head of the Bay of Bengal. The coast of Bangladesh is known as a zone of vulnerabilities as well as opportunities which involves coast and island boundaries. The eastern coastal zone consists of sandy beaches and hilly areas and is morphologically very dynamic. This shoreline is an important zone which facilitates tourism opportunity, fishing industry, natural resources and regional highway. Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf shoreline has been experiencing severe erosion at a number of places due to wave action. Wave and wind induced motion results in sediment distribution and shaping of nearshore morphology. The study has been performed by using Remote Sensing and GIS techniques. The shoreline shifting analysis has been performed by the process of open source Landsat images from 1980 to 2017. Satellite derived band algebra; Normalized Difference Vegetation Index has been utilized to identify the vegetation cover. The satellite images of an object carry a unique index property. In this study the index property of vegetation cover has been used to delineate more stable shorelines. At different locations, the average change in shoreline goes up to 120 m in erosion and 100 m in deposition. Based on the coastline shifting the erosion behaviour and the vulnerable areas are identified.

Journal of Engineering Science 12(1), 2021, 21-28