Coastal Vulnerability and Shoreline Changes for Southern Tip of India-Remote Sensing and GIS Approach

The present research aims to classify the vulnerable risk zones of the Southern tip of India using shoreline change analysis and coastal vulnerability index (CVI). The shoreline change analysis has been done by automatic image analysis techniques using multi-temporal Landsat data (1973, 1992, 2000 and 2006). The results have shown remarkable erosion was found in Cape Camoron (Left) (4.21 m/year), Idindakarai (4.56 m/year) and Vijayapathi (4.66 m/year). In contrast, the station between Chinna muttam and Visvanarayanapuram has predominant deposition. The CVI index were established based on following six variables: Geomorphology, Shoreline change rate (m/yr), Coastal slope (deg), Relative Sea level change (mm/yr), Mean wave height (m), Mean Tide range (m). According to the CVI value, Cape Camoron (Left), Idindakarai and Vijayapathi sites are identified as highly vulnerable zones. Overall the study, remarkable coastal landform dynamics observed in chinna muttam. The vulnerable map prepared for the southern tip of Indian coast can be useful to prevent the coastline erosion and future disaster mitigation.