Shoreline change assessment using DSAS technique: A case study on the coast of Meriç Delta (NW Türkiye)

Abstract

Shoreline changes have been increasingly concerning in recent years for the low-lying coastal areas, especially the delta regions, which are significantly important for ecological life, economic development, and human settlement. For this reason, analyzing spatial and temporal changes in shoreline position and shape is significantly important to understand natural and anthropogenic forces. In this study, 46 years of spatiotemporal shoreline change in Meriç Delta is analyzed by using End Point Rate (EPR), Net Shoreline Movement (NSM), and Linear Regression (LRR) statistics of the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS). DSAS is an add-in tool to the ArcGIS program and is used to calculate the rate of change statistics from multiple historical shoreline data. The statistical result of the study indicates that the maximum NSM shoreline accretion value is 491.4 m and the EPR 10.6 m/yr−1, while the maximum NSM shoreline erosion value is -169.2 m and the LRR is −3.9 m/yr−1 between the periods of 1975–2021. Moreover, the average NSM value indicates an accretion pattern with a value of 66.03 m during the 46 years. As a result, the shoreline of the Meriç Delta was exposed to both accretion and erosional processes, but the accretion processes dominated the shoreline of the study area during the 46 years.