Abstract
Located in the west coast of Taiwan, Yunlin County is considered as one of the most industrialized counties. The impact of land use on the coastal zone is significantly high. The main objective of this study is to analyze the impact of coastal land use changes in Yunlin County between 1996 and 2011 on shoreline dynamics. Two sets of satellite images (SPOT and FORMOSAT-2) are used as major data sources, and all analyses are performed using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques. Land use classification includes seven types. Their area changes and correlations with shoreline area changes are calculated. Results indicate that between 1996 and 2011, the Yunlin coastal zone has experienced substantial land use changes, with dramatic increase of industrial and residential area along with significant loss of sandy coast. For the last sixteen years, Yunlin shoreline has undergone both erosion and accretion position changes. However, accretion is more prominent and common in many places. The net shoreline change observed is an accretion area of 1.65 km2. Results also further reveal that area changes of agriculture, residential, abandoned and aquaculture lands have caused a negative impact on the shoreline, moving it landward. However, area changes of industrial land and the sandy coast have exerted a positive impact (shifting the shoreline towards the sea). This positive impact is mainly due to land reclamation projects and destruction of natural coasts. As such, this is not favorable for natural coastal environments. This study also clearly indicates that, human induced coastal land use changes do exist in Yunlin. These changes may have created long-term shoreline position shifts and significant impact on its coastal environment.
Highlights
Coastal regions are highly important, as they are the most intensely used areas settled by humans.They have been under intensive pressure throughout history and the situation is likely to continue in the future
Yunlin County is located in the west coastal region of Taiwan (23°42'18''N and 120°28'34''E), in the southern part of the Chuoshui Stream alluvial fan, and between the new and old Huwei Stream
The largest part of the study area is covered by agriculture, followed by aquaculture, industrial area, residential area, sandy coast, vegetation and abandoned areas (Figure 2 and Table 1)
Summary
Coastal regions are highly important, as they are the most intensely used areas settled by humans. They have been under intensive pressure throughout history and the situation is likely to continue in the future. As a result of this, changes of land use patterns are one of the most significant environmental issues in many coastal areas all over the world. Because of the dynamic nature of the water body and the coastal land, the shoreline changes all the time and are never stable with either short-term or long-term positions. Changes of coastal land use patterns can directly impact changes in shoreline positioning [4,5]. Changing shoreline position influences immediate coastal environments either positively or negatively [7,8]
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