Coastal Erosion and Shoreline Change in Ganjam Coast along East Coast of India

One of the rapidly changing coastal landforms is shoreline. It is very necessary to understand exact detection and frequent monitoring of shorelines through coastal processes and changing aspects of various coastal features. The present study is emphasized at investigating the shoreline changes along the Ganjam Coast, South Coast of Odisha by using geospatial techniques. The survey of India topographic maps and Landsat images were primarily used to extract shoreline features using software’s like Erdas Imagine and Arc GIS. The present study area is the Ganjam coast which is located on the south coast of Odisha which is from Prayagi to Bahuda river mouth. The beach has been eroded particularly in the Ramayapatam and Podampeta coastal tract due to various coastal processes that has taken place; such variations in the coastal processes are recorded by Landsat images and true colour image (Google earth) and also by repetitive field survey at different coastal sectors. The nature and magnitude of erosion indicates the immediate effect of waves attacking the coast under the impact of the low-pressure systems over the sea and the long-term impact of the loss of equilibrium between the waves and the coastline under the impact of the regimes of changing climate and sea level rise.