Remote sensing of beach erosion/accretion patterns along Damietta-Port Said shoreline, Egypt

Erosion is considered to be one of the major environmental problems in the Nile Delta coast. It increased after completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1964, which trapped all sediments in the upstream side. The purpose of this study is to detect erosion/accretion patterns as well as to calculate erosion/accretion areas along the shore zone using satellite images and hydrographic profiles for three time periods (1978-1983, 1983-1990 and 1978-1990). The relationship between the erosion, accretion and gross areas (defined as the sum of erosion and accretion areas ignoring the negative sign of erosion) has also been investigated as revealed by satellite images and hydrographic profiles. Three zones were identified: (1) the western zone is marked by shoreline accretion; (2) the central zone which has mixed erosion and accretion; and (3) the eastern zone which is characterized by slight erosion with minor and localized accretion areas. Comparisons among variation of erosion, accretion and gross areas were carried out for the three time periods. Results indicate similarity of trends of erosion, accretion and gross areas calculated from images and ground-based profiles.