AN APPLICATION OF GEOINFORMATICS INTEGRATED WITH DSAS FOR ANALYSIS OF COASTAL EROSION ALONG RUSHIKULYA RIVER MOUTH IN EASTERN COASTAL INDIA

In the context of present world climate change scenario, coastal erosion is a serious matter of
concern. The shoreline geometry is impacted by coastal processes and agents that include
waves, tides, storms, tectonic and physical processes. The coastal erosion is caused by a
combination of nature and human actions. In this context, the estuarine regions are vulnerable
ones as they represent special ecosystems in terms of economic activities and ecological
resources Geoinformatics has proved to be revolutionary tools for such monitoring and
analysis of changes along coastal areas. Studies also reveal that Remote Sensing (multi
temporal satellite images), GPS and GIS, integrated with DSAS has demonstrated to be very
effective tools for analyzing shore line changes and coastal erosion. Present research has
attempted to analyze the costal erosion patterns using remote sensing – multi temporal
satellite images, GIS and DSAS for Rushikulya estuary lying in Odisha state along eastern
coastal India. Rushikulya estuary is one of the major mass nesting sites of Olive Ridley sea
turtles, which is now being impacted by landuse / landcover changes, extreme weather events
and significant loss of nesting sites due to erosion. From the present study it has been
observed that the coast along Rushikulya estuary area in Ganjam district of Odisha has
undergone high erosion prior to 1999 and accretion is more prevalent during recent years.