Determination of Caspian Sea Coastal Changes Using Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems

This study aims to determine the coastal changes in and around the Baku International Sea Trade Port (BISTP) located on the coast of the Caspian Sea for the last thirty years with the integration of Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems. For this purpose, Landsat 5 TM dated 18.07.1992 and Landsat 9 OLI dated 30.08.2022 images of the study region were used. The land and sea area was determined by applying the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) to the relevant images, then spatio-temporal changes were examined in the study area. In the last stage, Shoreline Change Envelope (SCE) and End Point Rate (EPR) methods were applied using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) tool of ArcGIS 10.3 software. We generated transects along the shoreline at 20m and 400m intervals. The analyses by the SCE method revealed that the most remarkable change in the shoreline during the 30 years was 1253 m at transect 11, east of the port, and the slightest change was 1.8 m to the seaward at transect 23, 11.5 km south of the port. When the results of the EPR method were examined, the most significant change was found in the transect number of 11 - 41.61 meters/year, and the lowest difference was found in the transect number of 23 - 0.06 meters/year. The areal difference between the extracted shorelines of different years was calculated, and an increase of 633 ha for the land area as a result of coastline filling.

Automated summary

This study used Remote Sensing and Geographic Information Systems to analyze the coastal changes around the Baku International Sea Trade Port over the past thirty years. The results showed that the most significant shoreline change occurred on the east side of the port, while the smallest change was observed 11.5 kilometers south of the port. Additionally, the study found that the land area had increased by 633 hectares due to coastline filling.