Application of the object-oriented technique to monitor coastline changes- case study: Caspian sea

• Main Authors: Din, M.M.A., Rasouli, A.A.
• Format: Article
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: H Social Sciences (General); T Technology (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/14858/

Coastal zone monitoring is an important task in national development and environmental protection, in which, drawing out of shorelines is necessary as a fundamental research. This technique of measurement helps in the accuracy of monitoring the coastline changes. In this case, Caspian sea is taken as the case study due to its unique characteristic. Its dynamic coastlines features pose considerable hazards to human use and development. Rapid reliable techniques are required to monitor and update coastline maps of these areas to explore rates of environmental retreats. Similar method can be applied to measure other coastal zone. In the current study, various semi-automated methods like NDWI, NDSI and Tasseled Cap have been applied accordingly and the results were integrated with some object-oriented classification methods. Landsat MSS, TM and ETM imageries of the past three decades were consequently processed by an object-oriented approach performed with an eCognition software package. By comparing three classified maps of the south Caspian Sea coasts (Babolsar Port to Feridonkenar) in 1977, 1984 and 2002 with a unique region growing image segmentation technique (multi-resolution segmentation), areas of rapid change were progressively identified. The revealed models demonstrate several yearly fluctuations and considerable periodical changes on the study area coastlines particularly during the last decode observed by TOPEX/Jason satellites. These great variations have occurred as the result of 2.6 meters increase in seawater height from 1984 to 1995. This has successively caused coastal lands to diminish about 185 km(2) mainly on the Babolsar Port, changing landcover and landuse types by depletion of significant agricultural and residential areas. Implementations of such significant changes signify that the majority of local biotic and a biotic components, all over the surrounding areas, would be in crucial threat in the near future.