A STUDY ON THE SHORELINE CHANGES AND LAND USE/LAND COVER ALONG THE KETA COASTAL ZONE

Abstract

Abstract. The Keta Municipality has undergone a rapid increase in population due to economic and commercial activities. This led to the municipal’s coastal and shoreline zone being faced with severe environmental challenges throughout the years. The goal of the study was to evaluate Keta’s shoreline changes and the coastal Land Use Land Cover (LULC) using multi-temporal remote sensing datasets. These datasets were subjected to the following image processing techniques such as image enhancement, image classification and, shoreline extraction. The Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS), a plugin tool in ArcGIS was utilized to assess the rate of shoreline changes (i.e., erosion or accretion) from 2000 to 2020. These were achieved based on the following statistical methods used; Linear Regression Rate (LRR), Net Shoreline Movement (NSM), and End Point Rate (EPR). The LULC analysis indicated that built-up areas and water bodies have increased rapidly from 14.71–18.43%, and 47.68–50.46% respectively from 2000 to 2021. In terms of the shoreline changes, LRR showed a mean of −0.95m/year with 68.22% faced with erosion and accretion of 31.78%. The EPR and NSM revealed a mean shoreline change of −1.19m/year and −26.3/period respectively from 2000 to 2021. The EPR and NSM results both revealed that 69.24% experienced erosion and 30.76% accretion, indicating the prevalence of erosion at the shoreline. This research is to contribute to both the development of Keta’s shoreline protection and management measures as well as sustainable land use planning. Also, aids in achieving most of the Sustainable Development Goals in the municipal.