Assessing shoreline change using satellite-derived shorelines in Progreso, Yucatán, México

Abstract

Assessment of shoreline change during a six-year period using Satellite-Derived Shorelines (SDS) was carried out in Progreso, Yucatán, México. Confidence bounds for the SDS were defined based on the deviation between quasi-simultaneous in situ shoreline measurements and SDS. The main objective of this paper is to show that optical satellite images are a valuable resource to study shoreline change covering large geographical scales (>10km), as well as short (<1 month) and long (>5 years) temporal scales. This approach can be particularly useful for those areas with a lack of shoreline records. The results presented here show that detection of differences between seasons and years is achievable using SDS. Furthermore, rates of change are also possible to assess.