Coast Line Research Paper

INTRODUCTION

Coast line is one of the components, are recognized as unique features on the earth (Li et al., 2003). The coast line can be defined as the line of contact between land and a body of water (Alesheikh et al., 2004). Coastal line changes are mainly due to human factors and natural factors such as waves, tides, winds, periodic storms and sea-level change. Natural factors are a result of global warming. Many scientists consider global warming force climatic change as the most serious environmental threat facing the world today. This natural factor causes erosion and accretion of the costal line. Global mean sea level has been rising at an average rate of approximately 1.7 mm/year over the past 100 years (measured from tide gauge observations),

Monitoring the evolution of the coastline is an important task in several applications such as cartography and the environmental management of the entire coastal zone (Alesheikh et al., 2004). Erosion can happen under any conditions, but its rate tends to increase when waves are powerful and water levels are high, for instance during storms or in high winds. Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems GIS have become increasingly important tools for many applications, as these systems link information to precisely locations, and integrate information drawn from multiple sources (Shanti Pappu et al., 2010; Christoph Siart et al., 2008). These characteristics of water, vegetation and soil make the use of the images that contain visible and infrared bands widely used for coastline mapping. Examples of such images are: TM (Thematic Mapper) and ETM+ (Enhanced Thematic Mapper) imagery (Moore, 2000). High resolution satellite images, notably LandSat images have been successfully employed to estimate the changes in many applications (Lo and Welch, 1977, Elshehaby A. R., et al., 2012). Coastline is one of the most

The extraction of features such as shore line and buildings for change detection and mapping purposes presents many research challenges (Priestnalla G., et al., 2000, Thomas et al. 2003; Ibrahim F. et al. 2011). The main objective of this research is to study and analyze the changes of costal line and costal area of Red Sea coast of Ras Sudr district for developing and protecting it using remotely sensed data and GIS. Rapid urban development and increasing land use changes due to population and economic growth in selected landscapes is being witnessed of late in India and other developing countries. (Manish K. T., et al., 2012). In order to meet urban development challenges a planner needs to have fairly accurate and up-to-date information. (Pathana S. K., et al.1993; Pathak, et al., 2009). Also, calls for the use of monitoring systems like remote sensing. Such systems along with spatial analysis techniques like digital image processing and geographical information system (Mahesh K., et al.,