Spatial-temporal Monitoring of the Paranaguá Bay Inlet Margins Using Multispectral Landsat-TM Images

The potential use of Landsat-TM images in accompanying the spatial and temporal variability of the upper nearshore in two margins of the inlet of the estuarinecomplex of Paranaguá Bay (Paraná -Brazil), was evaluated between 1985 and 2000. It was possible to follow the erosive and accretionary evolution through the variation in gain and loss of beach area, as well as the morphological variation ôf the beaches. The analysis of wind data indicates that the predominance of increasingly stronger S and SE winds from 1998 on is related to an intense erosive process at the bay inlet. Landsat-TM images, available since 1982, are an efficient and accessible alternative to follow up and understand the variations of coastal morphology in a temporal scale of few years to decades, and spatial variations larger than 60 m.