Assessment of Coastal Vulnerability to combined effects of Socio-Economical Factors and Erosion on Karnataka Coast with the aid of Integrated Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Abstract

: The coastal zones are highly resourceful and dynamic. Last decade has been witness to the increased frequency of tropical cyclones and the devastating tsunami. These changing times has brought importance of assessing the vulnerability of the coast to natural hazards. Present study intends to develop Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI) for the administrative units, known as talukas of Karnataka State. Four variables characterising the vulnerability of the coast were considered, which includes rate of shoreline change, low-lying area, population and road network. Data was assimilated using the techniques of remote sensing and GIS. A total of 298 km of shoreline was assessed in accordance with the talukas in the study. It was observed that 63 km of the shoreline of the study area is under very high vulnerable category and 77 km of shoreline is high vulnerable category while 100 km and 58 km of coast are of moderate and low vulnerable categories respectively.