Coastline alteration rate of Weh Island, Aceh Province, Indonesia

Abstract

Weh Island, Aceh Province, located in the Western-most of Indonesia, is one of the most popular tourism destinations among domestic and international tourists. The tourism sectors in this island might be endangered by nature dynamics that continuously changes to remain balance, either of the noticeable changes is the coastline shape and position alteration. This manuscript aims to examine Weh Island coastline alteration by mapping it through the satellite imageries of Landsat-7 ETM+ of year 2002 and 2009, and Landsat-8 OLI TIRS of year 2015 then calculate the rate by employing DSAS (Digital Shoreline Analysis System) 4.3. The used statistical method, called EPR (End Point Rate), showed that the coastline alteration rate in the area were classified into 5 categories; 1) stable, 2) accretion, 3) low erosion, 4) moderate erosion, and 5) high erosion. In general, Weh Island were encountered erosion for period 2002 - 2009 and accretion for period 2009 - 2015, which distributed over the island. Moreover, the alteration was found around the tourism sites such as Gapang, Iboih and Jaboi coastal area, also Sabang and Balohan port area.