Implications of sea-level rise on the coastal villages of Kanyakumari District, Tamil Nadu, India: A geospatial perspectives

Abstract

It’s a realistic approach with the coastline geometry of the sea level rise by statistical analysis of aerial data and concludes with the coastal elevation effects on the different segments of the coastal regions at the village level in Kanyakumari district in Tamil Nadu, India. The physical responses of the coastal zones to extract the coastal landforms of Kanyakumari, India by the comprehensive analysis of inundation scenarios, can find out the risk factors of relative sea level rise. The study area was encompassed into three taluks (Agastheeswaram, Kalkulam, and Killiyoor) and derived into 17 revenue coastal villages for the Land use /Landover (LU/LC) prepared from the satellite imagery with the digital elevation model, The sea level rise scenarios were generated into four class, such as very high (-2m to 0m), high (0m to 0.5m), moderate (0.5m to 1.0m), and low (1.0m). Among the three taluks in the study area, the Agastheeswaram taluk will be inundated 1132.23 ha (10.76%) of the coastal area and Killiyoor taluk will be inundated 327.99 ha (5.39%) of the coastal area are under immediate risk of 0.5m rise in sea-level. Overall, this study exposed significant increases: more than 17% of the coastal population living in the Low Elevation Coastal Zone of the Kanyakumari coast will be exposed to future sea level inundation.