Shoreline Change Analysis of Amini Island, Lakshadweep Using Remote Sensing and GIS

Abstract. Lakshadweep Islands, a chain of low-lying coral atolls located in Arabian Sea, are among the most climate sensitive regions of India. Its airport and residential areas are predicted to be affected by sea level rise. Their geographic isolation, limited land area, and low elevation make them particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, including sea-level rise, coastal erosion, coral bleaching, and extreme weather events. As the inhabited islands depend heavily on marine and coastal ecosystems for their livelihoods and protection, monitoring shoreline dynamics is crucial for sustaining environmental and socio—economic resilience. This study investigates shoreline changes on one of the inhabited islands of the Lakshadweep Archipelago, Amini, using multi-temporal Landsat satellite imagery from 1990-2020. Amini being a small island in the atoll, is expected to be severely hit. Some workers have predicted that Amini will face major land loss along 60 to 70% of its shoreline due to sea level rise. The analysis was conducted using ArcGIS and the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 5.0 to extract shorelines and calculate change rates. Using two statistical change rate metrics Net Shoreline Movement (NSM) and End Point Rate (EPR), shoreline change was quantified for three different periods: 1990-2000, 2000-2015 and 2015-2020. The highest average erosion was observed during the 1990–2000 period; of the total of 1454 transects generated, 64.5 % transects showed erosion. Of the total 1422 transects generated for 2000-2015, 78.8% transects showed accretion. These findings underscore the importance of integrated coastal zone management and sustained shoreline monitoring to guide adaptive planning and sustainable development in the environmentally fragile and inhabited islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago.