Three Decades State of the Tombolo Related to Wind Climate (1985 to 2015): Case of Galesong Beach, Takalar Regency

Abstract

Tombolo-shaped beach in Galesong District orientated westward is a nice morphology behind the detached Sanrobengi Island in front of mainland of Takalar Regency. Our main interest is formulated as the problem of how the tombolo whether is experiencing continual growth or retreated. This study aims to explain changes of shape and its area of the tombolo morphology for each five-year period along the shoreline based on the influence of wind directions. This study uses Google Earth Pro Image from 1985 to 2015 to map key changes of the shoreline, where the obtained data are analysed using ArcGIS 10.3. Wind data is obtained from the European Centre Medium-Term Weather Forecast (ECMWF) from 1985 to 2015 where the wind data is analysed using Ocean Data View, and WRPlot 5.3 is used to form wind rose diagrams. Shoreline of the tombolo is divided into six segments and studied into five-year periods from 1985 to 2015. The obtained results showed that the wind direction is enough to influence the change of shorelines in the area of the Tombolo. From 1985 to 2015, the dominant wind direction is from the West and Northwest. Overall changes are as follow, the area of tombolo is developed during the period of 1985 to 1995; while the area of tombolo is retreated in the period of 1995 to 2015.