Quantitative analysis of shoreline changes at the Mediterranean Coast in Turkey

This research is focused on the coastline evolution monitoring and its potential change estimation by remote sensing techniques using multi-temporal Landsat images at the southeast coasts of the Mediterranean Sea in Turkey. The study area includes the coastal zone located in the Cukurova Delta coasts. The Cukurova Delta has accreted toward the Mediterranean Sea as a result of sediment discharge and transport from Seyhan and Ceyhan rivers. These processes have caused the morphological changes (accretion or erosion) of coastline along some parts of the southeast coasts of the Mediterranean Sea. In this study, coastline changes were researched by using radiometrically and geometrically corrected multi-temporal and multi-spectral data from Landsat Multispectral Scanner dated 1972, Thematic Mapper dated 1987, and Enhanced Thematic Mapper dated 2002. In the image processing steps, mosaicing, subset, Iterative Self-Organizing Data Analysis Technique classification, band ratioing (B5/B2), edge detection, and overlay techniques were used to carry out coastline extraction and the Digital Shoreline Analysis System was used to calculate rate of coastline changes. As a result of the analysis, in some parts of the research area, remarkable coastline changes (more than 2,900 m withdrawal and − 24.50 m/year erosion) were observed for a 30–year period.