Shoreline change along Odisha coast using statistical and geo-spatial techniques

The historical shoreline change from 1978 to 2017 along Odisha coast are studied using toposheet, time-series Landsat, Indian Remote Sensing satellite data, and observed data. Shoreline change at south Odisha coast, Puri, Konark, Paradip and Pentha at different epochs (3–12 yrs) during 1978–2017 shows distinct spatio-temporal variability, which is discussed in relation to cyclonic storms and coastal structures associated with ports and harbours. The study also generated a long-term (1978–2017) shoreline change statistics (EPR, LRR, SCE and NSM) using Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) at every 500 m interval for the five zones of Odisha coast covering 425 km, identified the hotspots of erosion and accretion and divided the shoreline into five different classes of erosion and accretion. Identified lengths of shoreline with high erosion, low erosion, stable, low accretion and high accretion are respectively, 257.1, 92.2, 25.5, 10.2 and 40 km, based on LRR. The results indicate that erosion is predominant along Odisha coast. Zone-D (Paradip to Pentha) with highest percentage of high erosion is most vulnerable, while Zone-E (Pentha–Balasore) with highest percentage of accretion is least vulnerable. Zone-B (Chilika to Konark) with lowest percentage of high erosion and no high accretion is stable.