Ecology, Environment and Conservation Paper

SHORELINE DEMARCATION ON TIRUNELVELI COAST ANALYSIS MOVING BOUNDARIES USING R (AMBUR) STATISTICS

A. Dennis, L. Senthilnathan, M. Machendiranathan and R. Ranith

Abstract

Shoreline is highly dynamic region which plays an essential role on shaping the coastal zones. Though, there are different techniques to analyze these changes, the present study deals with analyzing Moving Boundaries Using R (AMBUR) an open source statistics software. Present study focused on Tirunelveli coastal shoreline change over a period of 45 years from 1973 to 2017 using Landsat MSS, TM, ETM and OLI datasets. The end point rate (EPR) and linear regression rate (LRR) of change calculated to describe the constant shoreline dynamic movement on short term and long term. The LRR was estimated for 45 years long term shoreline changes and EPR was calculated for two periods, (1943-2003) 30 years and 15 years (2003-2017) estimated for short term studies. The maximum accretion was found in the northeast region (637.13m) in a particular transect area. The maximum erosion was found on southwest region (244.43m). EPR was estimated for 30years (1973-2003) maximum of accretion and erosion was 77.75m and 388.2m respectively. In the period of last15 years (2003-2017) maximum accretion (413.03m) and erosion (81.43m) was observed when compared with first 30 years. Overall from the rate of change statistics, Tirunelveli coast exhibit a condition and it needs a counter actions to protect the shoreline.