Coastal dynamism in Southern Thailand: An application of the CoastSat toolkit

In Thailand, 17% of the population lives by the coast, approximately 11 million people. A combination of coastal erosion, sea level rise and coastal land subsidence are critical issues threatening the livelihoods of coastal communities. Thailand has invested a lot of money and installed conservation policies to restore and protect coastal mangroves and realign or replenish their beaches. This study assessed the use of the toolkit Coastsat to digitise a time series of shoreline positions from open access satellite images between 1990 and 2019 along 560 km of coastline in the provinces of Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat (NST). Based on these digitised shorelines and the use of the software Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS), it was possible to identify shoreline change, which varied between -66 to +16.4 m/y in the mangroves of NST and -22.2 to +10.6 m/year on its sandy beaches. Shoreline change rates along the Krabi coast varied -34.5 to +21.7 m/year in the mangroves and -4.1 to +4 m/year on sandy beaches. Analysis of the spatial and temporal variations of the shoreline position during the survey period reveals a linkage between extreme weather conditions and coastal erosion along the NST coast while that linkage is less clear along the Krabi coast. CoastSat delivers crucial and accurate time series shoreline data over extensive areas that are vital to coastal managers and researchers in a completely remote manner, which is key with the presence of COVID-19 travel bans.

Automated summary

Approximately 11 million people, or 17% of the population, in Thailand live along the coast, facing issues such as coastal erosion, sea level rise, and land subsidence. Thailand has invested in restoration and protection efforts for coastal mangroves and beaches. This study utilized the Coastsat toolkit to digitize shoreline positions from satellite images taken between 1990 and 2019 along 560 km of coastline in Krabi and Nakhon Si Thammarat provinces. The analysis revealed varying rates of shoreline change, suggesting a linkage between extreme weather conditions and coastal erosion in Nakhon Si Thammarat, while the linkage was less clear in Krabi. The CoastSat tool provides crucial and accurate shoreline data for coastal managers and researchers, especially during travel restrictions caused by COVID-19.