A holistic evaluation of human-induced LULCC and shoreline dynamics of El-Burullus Lagoon through remote sensing techniques

Abstract

El-Burullus coastal zone suffers instability due to the construction of protective measures. This study aims to examine changes in land use/land cover and to detect shoreline changes using remote sensing and GIS tools. Firstly, monitoring changes occurs in land use/land cover carried out using Landsat and SPOT images over the years (1984, 2001, 2012 and 2017). The results of the change detection revealed that the lake area has been decreased by 7.23% due to the continuous increase in the urban area around the lake. Fish ponds incredibly increased by a huge percentage of 432.19%. The agricultural area has increased slightly to 7.94%. On the other hand, it is concluded that the maximum rate during the period (2001–2012) is 46.7 m/year due to the construction of hard protection on the west side which resulted in downdrift erosion (eastern side) with a maximum rate of 32 m/year. It is found that the maximum erosion rate was 38.3 m/year on the eastern side between 2012 and 2017, while the maximum erosion rate on the western side was 48.65 m/year.