A quantitative analysis of multi-decadal shoreline changes along the East Coast of South Korea

Abstract

South Korea's east coast is facing several issues related to coastal erosion because of sea-level rise, typhoon-induced storm surges, and various coastal development projects. In recent decades, high storm waves have frequently appeared on the east coast, causing casualty, beach erosion, and coastal infrastructure damage, drawing significant public attention. Thus, we analyzed the multi-decadal shoreline changes to understand the coastal dynamics and the forces responsible for the spatio-temporal changes along the 173 km coastline. The shorelines covering 38 years between 1984 and 2022 were derived from Landsat images and the change statistics, i.e., linear regression rate (LRR), endpoint rate (EPR), weighted linear regression (WLR), and net shoreline movement (NSM), were calculated at a 100 m alongshore intervals using Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS), revealed several distinct behaviors of shoreline position. The long-period (1984–2022) assessment showed an average shoreline change rate (LRR) of 0.17 m/year with an estimated mean erosion and deposition rate of −0.57 and 2.07 m/year, respectively. The long-term surface gain and loss of the backshore region exhibited that the net surface gain of the east coast is 421.13 ha, and the net loss is 181.82 ha. The assessment of decadal shoreline changes showed a cyclic pattern of erosion (from 1984–1990 and 1999–2010) and accretion (from 1990–1999 and 2010–2022). Furthermore, a secondary level of investigation was conducted to address a wider variety of coastal behaviors by segmenting shoreline change rates based on coast types and average slopes along coastlines. It was observed that the frequent coastal deformation is associated with a flatter beach compared to a steep one. This study found that the artificial structures constructed along the east coast have not completely solved or stopped the erosion issues but shifted it from one location to another. The analysis of local and regional shoreline changes had shown that typhoon-induced storm surges, high storm waves, and anthropogenic activities like encroachment and the development of artificial coastal structures were the primary drivers of coastline changes along the east coast. Finally, we proposed a decision-making classification scheme that can be used to determine the mechanism of decision for protective and preventive measures against further coastal deterioration.