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Coastal vulnerability assessment of Gujarat coast to sea level rise using GIS techniques: a preliminary study

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Abstract

Assessing the preparedness of the coastal region to the anticipated sea level rise is a major task among the coastal management authority, where identification of relative vulnerable of coast is a prime concern. The present research work has utilized Remote Sensing and GIS techniques for assessing vulnerability of the Gujarat coast due to predicted sea level rise. Synergetic use of satellite remote sensing, numerical simulations and filed observations has been done to generate coastal thematic information followed by validation. Coastal vulnerability assessment of the entire Gujarat coast on 1:50,000 scale were carried out considering five physical parameters. They are; coastal geomorphology, coastal slope, shoreline change rate, mean spring tidal range, and significant wave height. The rank values of all the five physical variables are integrated through additive method to compute a Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) where the relative ranking is assigned to various coastal segments based on the vulnerability level. The CVI values categorize Gujarat coast into four risk level classes. The results show that 785 km (45.67 %) of the Gujarat coast is under high to very high risk category and 934 km (54.33 %) of the Gujarat coast is under Moderate to Low risk category due to an anticipated rise in sea level. The coastal regions under very high risk category are along northwestern parts of the Gulf of Khambhat, the northernmost parts of the Gulf of Kachchh and western parts of the Kachchh coast. The southern parts of the Saurashtra coast and southwestern parts of the Kachchh coast is under the low risk category along with isolated segments along the eastern parts of the Gulf of Khambhat. The approach developed for assessing vulnerability of the coast to predicted sea level rise using remote sensing and GIS techniques can be used effectively by coastal management authorities and decision makers to devise better coastal zone management plans as well as to ensure efficient mitigation measures to minimize the losses due to possible impact of predicted sea level rise through which appropriate measures to protect life, property and environment can be timely planned.

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Acknowledgments

The authors express their sincere gratitude to Shri A S Kiran Kumar, Director, SAC, Ahmedabad for providing required data and support. The authors are thankful to Dr. Ramesh Ramachandran, Director and Dr. Purvaja Ramachandran, Scientist-G, NCSCM, Chennai for providing valuable guidance, support and constant encouragement. The authors are also grateful to the reviewer for their valuable suggestion.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. National Centre for Sustainable Coastal Management, Chennai, India

    Manik Mahapatra

  2. Space Applications Centre, Ahmedabad, India

    Manik Mahapatra, Ratheesh Ramakrishnan & A. S. Rajawat

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  1. Manik Mahapatra
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  2. Ratheesh Ramakrishnan
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  3. A. S. Rajawat
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Correspondence to Manik Mahapatra.

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Mahapatra, M., Ramakrishnan, R. & Rajawat, A.S. Coastal vulnerability assessment of Gujarat coast to sea level rise using GIS techniques: a preliminary study. J Coast Conserv 19, 241–256 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-015-0384-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11852-015-0384-x

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