Coastal Erosion Assessment of the Nile Delta Coast using Remote Sensing, GIS, and Modified Coastal Vulnerability Index

Abstract

The coastal zones are very much dynamic and are changing very fast, so it is completely important to study them in a temporal domain, for which remote sensing and GIS are the best tools. The coastal zone along the Governorates of Kafr El Sheikh, Dakahlia, and Damietta in north Egypt are reported to be facing serious environmental challenges. This study evaluates the coastline erosion and accretion and coastal vulnerability index (CVI) along these three Governorates, with a total length of 153Km over the past 34 years are analyzed using satellite images of TM 1984, ETM+ 2001, and ASTER 2018. The results showed that the study area was exposed to remarkable and non-expected changes over the study periods. Erosion and accretion were found variable over time and place, ranging from 0.14 ha/year in Dakahlia governorate during 1984-2001 to 66.12 ha/year in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate during 2001-2018 for erosion, and from 3.15 ha/year in Dakahlia Governorate at 2001-2018 to 42.45 ha/year in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate at 1984-2001 for accretion. Total land loss due to erosion as high as about 2034.68 ha of shoreline, and land gain as high as about 1459.71 ha of coastline was estimated in the study area with a net of lost lands of about 574.97 ha. In general, Kafr El Sheikh Governorate was more affected by erosion. According to Modified CVI, about 9.66%, 11.03%, 33.10%, and 46.21% of the length of the coastline is classified as very high, high, moderate, and low vulnerability, respectively.