Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

THE COASTAL ENVIRONMENT CHANGES BASED ON REMOTE SENSING DATA (A CASE STUDY; S. CASPIAN, IRAN)

K. Solaimani

Abstract

A method based on satellite remote sensing (SRS) was developed to detect newly coastal areas depicted in Landsat sensor images. The method uses two Landsat ETM and MSS images from the central Mazandaran province coast acquired on different dates as input data. Raising the sea level threatens alarmingly the Caspian Sea coasts and created many problems especially in the southern parts where many highly concentrated urban settlements and agricultural area are located. Now more than 60 percent of the province urban population lives in this area. Advancing water towards the coastal areas have imposed considerable financial cost to the local and provincial authorities and caused environmental damages. Analyzing the reasons of sea level changes could provide a good background for determining the rate and intensity of changes. Using satellite data has been a great breakthrough in the recent decades especially in the developing world such as Iran where access to the direct and reliable data is difficult. The present study attempted to use satellite images of the area of 1997 and 2000 to investigate the major changes by applying ENVI and ArcGIS soft ware. The results revealed that the water has advanced 1.27% towards the study area when the two images were compared. However the extent of newly water covered areas reflects some differences due to the position of the place such as topography and depth of the coastal area.