Detecting coastline change from satellite images based on beach slope estimation in a tidal flat

Beach heights and tidal variation have large impacts on the accuracy of estimates of coastline position and its historical changes of a wider and flatter beach based on remote sensing data. This study presents an approach to analysis of waterline movement based on the beach slope, estimated from two effective images with Landsat images data. Two images acquired at different stages of the tide were processed to delineate accurately the position of the waterline. Then waterlines were assigned heights using elevations predicted by a two-dimensional non-linear tidal assimilation model. Beach slope can be calculated piecewise using the heighted shorelines based on the equiangular triangle theory. The positions of the national tidal height datum coastline can be obtained by the beach slope calculation method to accurately monitor the changing of coastline. A change in the coastline of the southwest tidal flat of the Yellow River delta, from Tianshuigou to the Xiaoqing River mouth, was detected by combining field measurements of profiles and bathymetric data. The root mean squared error (RMSE) of the calculated slope of the intertidal zone was one order of magnitude less than the measured slope. The minimum error of self-consistency check is 0.2%. The RMSE between the coastlines estimated by the proposed method and those surveyed data varies from 53.98 m to 217.72 m. It is shown that this method is more suitable for the two years and over the time scales of shoreline change monitoring. To assess erosion/accretion patterns in the tidal flat, and the controlling factors, the volume of the beach was investigated as a possible indicator. The accepted coastline position and changes in the beach volume were used to monitor the changing pattern of accretion and erosion along the coast southwest of the recent Yellow River mouth.