Assessment of shoreline vulnerability in parts of the coastline of Kasaragod district, Kerala, India

Abstract This paper focuses on the application of multidated data from Google Earth for the spatial and temporal change analysis of shoreline. The shoreline is the strip where water meets the land. It is highly dynamic in nature since its shape is exaggerated by different practices such as rising of sea level, tidal inundation, storm, storm surges, subsidence, accretion, and erosion. The shoreline changes are repeatedly affected by coastal erosion or coastal accretion because it is extremely vulnerable to natural hazards. The variations are for time and location. In the present study, investigation is on long-term changes in the shoreline of estuaries of Thrikaripur and Shiriya. The Thrikaripur and Shiriya estuaries are the major estuaries of Kasargod district of Northern Kerala. The study was carried out using multidate data from 1968 to 2018 and software such as Arc GIS 10.6 and Digital Shoreline Analysis System. The general tendency of erosion and accretion in the region where the study was conducted concluded that the estuary had relocated to the northern side due to coastal erosion and coastal accretion phenomena happening on the coast of Shiriya estuary. The Thrikaripur estuary faces more accretional changes on the shoreline. The influence of coastal management techniques such as rubble mound sea wall helps to reduce the erosion in the Thrikaripur river mouth. The present study revealed that the current and consistent information on shoreline is vital for shoreline management resolutions and scientists can use Google Earth in a better way.