Shoreline change and potential sea level rise impacts in a climate hazardous location in southeast coast of India

Abstract

Climate change impact on the environment makes the coastal areas vulnerable and demands the evaluation of such susceptibility. Historical changes in the shoreline positions and inundation based on projected sea-level scenarios of 0.5 and 1 m were assessed for Nagapattinam District, a low-lying coastal area in the southeast coast of India, using high-resolution Shuttle Radar Topography Mission data; multi-dated Landsat satellite images of 1978, 1991, 2003, and 2015; and census data of 2011. Image processing, geographical information system, and digital shoreline analysis system methods were used in the study. The shoreline variation indicated that erosion rate varied at different time scales. The end point rate indicated the highest mean erosion of - 3.12 m/year, occurred in 73% of coast between 1978 and 1991. Weighted linear regression analysis revealed that the coast length of 83% was under erosion at a mean rate of - 2.11 m/year from 1978 to 2015. Sea level rise (SLR) impact indicated that the coastal area of about 14,122 ha from 225 villages and 31,318 ha from 272 villages would be permanently inundated for the SLR of 0.5 and 1 m, respectively, which includes agriculture, mangroves, wetlands, aquaculture, and forest lands. The loss of coastal wetlands and its associated productivity will severely threaten more than half the coastal population. Adaptation measures in people participatory mode, integrated into coastal zone management with a focus on sub-regional coastal activities, are needed to respond to the consequences of climate change.

Climate change adaptation in aquaculture

“…The economic impacts of marine and coastal aquaculture are a major topic among studies aimed at national‐level adaptation strategies (Rosegrant et al 2016; Dey et al 2016a; Dey et al 2016b). Inland aquaculture is the second targeted area of aquaculture, and all the study areas are limited to global south nations (Bosma et al 2012; Jayanthi et al 2018; Lebel & Lebel 2018; Limuwa et al 2018; Lebel et al 2018a; Lebel et al 2018b). Almost all studies focusing on inland aquaculture have a regional focus (two or more communities or regions within the country).…”

“…Moreover, aquaculture management uses various aspects of adaptation to climate change, such as adaptive options, responses, processes, measures and pathways. For example, adaptation measures were studied in an inland aquaculture setting on the south‐east coast of India so as to adapt to the impacts of coastal erosion and potential sea‐level rise (Jayanthi et al 2018). Other unique methods of managing climate change impact are to use GIS and remote sensing to select new aquaculture sites (Liu et al 2014).…”

Are the Sundarbans, the World's largest mangroves region under threat?—An ecosystem‐based geospatial approach to assess changes past, present, and future in relation to natural and human‐induced factors

“…The where EPR and WLR is calculated using two and more than twoperiod shorelines, respectively (Jayanthi, Thirumurthy, Samynathan, et al, 2018b). Descriptive shoreline change statistics, such as mean, maximum, minimum, standard deviation (SD) were used to assess the impact at different transects.…”

Coastal Mangrove Response to Marine Erosion: Evaluating the Impacts of Spatial Distribution and Vegetation Growth in Bangkok Bay from 1987 to 2017

“…The relationship between mangrove stability and response to marine erosion is confounded by a number of factors, such as the direction of the coast relative to wave direction, coastline geomorphology, and sediment substrate [42]. At a smaller scale of mangrove patches, there are also spatial differences in marine erosion.…”