Land in Water: The Study of Land Reclamation and Artificial Islands Formation in the UAE Coastal Zone: A Remote Sensing and GIS Perspective

Abstract

The United Arab Emirate’s rapid population growth is coupled with an increase in the consumption of natural resources such as fresh air, sunlight, land, and water. In the past two decades, the demand for land has augmented both away from the coast and significantly near the coast. Within coastal zones, artificial reclamation of land in the sea is the most desirable way to meet the demand for land necessary for the development of the most modern urban areas. Seaward reclamation (land in the water) necessitates the construction of artificially reclaimed areas that are extended into the sea using innovative modern construction techniques. The majority of these building requirements are necessitated by a number of key factors and have diverse outcomes. Even though this type of urban expansion is not new, the scale and motivations of land reclamation have been drastically altered due to geological and human-induced factors. The purpose of this paper is to assess the increase in seaward land expansion, particularly in the seven UAE coastal emirates. Using satellite data, particularly from 1990 to 2021, the total increase in land due to newly developed reclaimed areas in all UAE coastal emirates is calculated. Satellite images from the Landsat series are used to analyze the tremendous growth since the early 2000s. In addition, the study of shoreline maps of 1990, 2000, 2010, and 2021 for the seven emirates revealed that the 22 km long Ajman and UAQ front coast experienced a notable shoreline retreat with a net erosion area of 300 m2 and an annual rate of 30 my−1 over the past 21 years (2000–2021). Depending on the type of construction design used to describe the process, a methodical sorting is also recommended. The impacts of the Dubai offshore reclaimed islands on the adjacent coastlines in Ajman and Umm Al Quwain (UAQ), as well as the potential impact of earthquake tremors along the Zagros fold belt region, are the subjects of this study. In this study, all seven coastal emirates are considered, and the largest reclamation projects are located in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Ras-Al Khaimah (RAK), and Fujairah, with Dubai leading the way; it has expanded its coastal areas by more than 68 km2 at present, and another 35 km2 will be reclaimed soon to finish Palm Deira.

Exploring Key Aspects of Sea Level Rise and Their Implications: An Overview

“…SLR can also be impacted by the type of event causing it, and whether it is short-term or long-term [41]. For example, extreme weather events will have an impact on wave height and intensity, which can result in a shortterm SLR in the form of flooding [42]. Wave and tidal actions lead to coastal erosion, cliff erosion, and marine erosion [31].…”

“…A higher deviation of RMSL over GMSL at Victoria Beach in Spain caused a drastic increase in erosion rates, leading to an additional need for beach maintenance activities, which are costly [49]. Erosion caused by increased and intense wave activities has also impacted the coastal areas at Beaufort Sea in the Arctic Ocean [50], UAE [42,51], Mostaganem shoreline in Algeria [52], Hawaiian Islands [53], India [54], Italy and shorelines in the Mediterranean sea [55], and Estonia [56]. In addition to variations in wave activities, erosion is also influenced by changes in sediment supply transported from rivers and onshore overwash activities [49].…”

“…Physical shoreline changes can be measured using different remote sensing data and geophysical location systems [42,51,[71][72][73]. Moreover, soft computing techniques can be used on remote sensing data in shoreline mapping to estimate land use (LU) and land cover (LC), which are terms used to describe the use of land for human activities and the physical characteristics of the land surface.…”

“…In many developed countries, the LU of the coastal areas was restructured for economic purposes to the extent of building artificial lands, such as Palm Islands in Dubai; however, these developed coastal areas are considered more vulnerable to SLR due to their socioeconomic importance. For instance, erosion caused by SLR affected properties and street infrastructure along the coast in some emirates in UAE [42]. The increasing economic pressure on coastal areas results in changes in seawater levels and the occurrence of climatic-driven extreme events results in a significant impact on various sectors.…”

“…Breakwaters are built either perpendicular or parallel to the beach according to the beach's nature, to provide maximum protection. The elevation of the breakwater should be determined according to the height of the local maximum tidal wave [42].…”