Essay On Coastline

Knowledge of coastline is the basis for overcoming coastal problems, measuring and characterizing land and water resources such as the area of the land and the perimeter of the coastline (Kuleli, 2009). Coasts are unique environment in which atmosphere, hydrosphere and lithosphere contact with each other. The coastal areas are a highly dynamic environment whose multiple geophysical parameters are worth monitoring. Monitoring the evolution of the coastline is an important task in several applications such as cartography and the environmental management of the entire coastal zone (Alesheikh et al., 2004; Dellepiane et al., 2004). Understanding of coastal land use changes is essential for sustainable coastal zone planning and management as it allows decision

The natural processes include phenomena such as waves, currents and storms. The human activities involve changes in the environment, sometimes expressed as modification at landscape levels. The magnitude of these activities and their effects are related to urban growth, and therefore, urban development must be seen as part of the ecological systems (Bailly and Nowell, 1996; Bedford, 1999; Ji et al., 2001; Jackson et al., 2001, Ruiz-Luna and Berlanga-Robles, 2003). Examples of human activities affecting the coastline are land reclamation, recreation at beaches, land use practices and construction in coastal zones. Coastline changes produce a positive or negative impact. For instance, coastline accretion may create more usable land for recreation or other purposes, which is a positive phenomenon. However, a resort usually close to the beach may, after accretion, be out of the view of the new beach and thus, unattractive to tourist visitors. Also, this is a negative phenomenon. On the other hand, coastline erosion may cause problems if it develops towards, for instance, a residential area. As a result, it can be said that changes in the shape of the coastline