Monitoring the Coastal Environment Using Remote Sensing and GIS Techniques

Abstract

The coastal zone has been of importance for economic development and ecological restoration due to their rich natural resources and vulnerable ecosystems. Remote sensing techniques have proven to be powerful tools for the monitoring of the Earth's surface and atmosphere on a global, regional, and even local scale, by providing important coverage, mapping and classification of land cover features such as vegetation, soil, water and forests. This chapter introduced the methods for monitoring the coastal environment using remote sensing and GIS techniques. Case studies of port expansion monitoring in typical coastal regions, together with the coastal environment changes analysis were also presented. Coastal zones are important for economic development and ecological restoration due to their rich natural resources and vulnerable ecosystems. Remote sensing techniques have been shown to be powerful tools in the monitoring of the Earth's surface and atmosphere on global, regional, and local scales. These techniques provide important coverage and mapping and help classify land cover, such as vegetation, soil, water, and forests. The main objectives of this chapter are (1) to introduce the state-of-the-art techniques on monitoring coastal environments using remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS), including landscape classification, automatic classification and change detection on regional scale, and objective-based classification on local scale, and (2) to present case studies of coastal environment monitoring, including Zhan Jiang Port in the stage of specialization, Gwadar Port and Djibouti Port in the expansion stage, and Ilichevsk Port in the stable stage.

Analysing Spatiotemporal Variability of Chlorophyll-a Concentration and Water Surface Temperature in Coastal Lagoons of the Ebro Delta (NW Mediterranean Sea, Spain)

“…Remote-sensing techniques such as satellites and/or unpiloted aerial vehicles equipped with multispectral, hyperspectral, and/or thermal sensors (among others) have become allied tools for the environmental management of different coastal ecosystems, as they effectively allow the extraction of different biophysical parameters from water bodies (Chl-a concentration, surface temperature, and turbidity of dissolved organic matter, among others) [15]. Despite the fact that remote-sensing techniques still require in situ field measurements, laboratory procedures, and band spectral analyses, as well as the development of algorithms, they have progressively overcome the limitations inherent in the spatiotemporal coverage and radiometric resolution of data acquisition [16].…”

Mid-Term Monitoring of Suspended Sediment Plumes of Greek Rivers Using Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) Imagery

“…Ocean color data from OCANSAT I, OCM, SeaWiFS, and MODIS provide information on biological aspects useful for fisheries and coastal ecosystems [32]. Regional-scale data are generally obtained from moderate-resolution remote sensing images, such as MODIS sensors and Landsat satellites [33].…”

“…Since 2002, the advent of the new era of freely available, daily, medium-resolution imagery from the MODIS instrument onboard the TERRA and AQUA platforms of NASA's EOS program certainly had a great impact on the spread of coastal remote sensing applications. MODIS multispectral data, despite their relatively low resolution, can reflect information on land surface condition, atmospheric water vapor, aerosol and surface temperature, atmospheric temperature, ocean color, phytoplankton, sea surface temperature, sea surface salinity, chlorophyll-a and many other properties [33,47]. A daily time resolution is essential for the monitoring of rapidly evolving, dynamic phenomena such as the movement of sediment-laden plumes from rivers into the sea during and after floods.…”

Long and Short-Term Coastal Changes Assessment Using Earth Observation Data and GIS Analysis: The Case of Sperchios River Delta

“…Coastal zones are some of the most complicated, highly productive, and extremely diverse Earth ecosystems and are considered as areas of major socio-economic importance, worldwide, occupying 18% of the land surface, while approximately 60% of the human population (and 1/3 of the population of Greece) lives no farther than 2 km from the coastline [1][2][3]. They constitute an extremely dynamic environment that is subjected to changes due to natural processes, such as sea-level rise, sediment supply, wave energy, tidal inundation, tectonic setting, and floods, and human actions, such as industrial, agriculture, residential and leisure or touristic activities [4][5][6].…”