Assessment of shoreline changes along the Lithuanian Baltic Sea coast during the period 1947-2010

Shoreline position measurements at various time instants can be used to derive quantitative estimates of the rate of shoreline change and help to understand the magnitude and timing of erosion or accretion processes. Aerial photographs and topographic maps from 1947 to 2010 have been used to derive instantaneous shoreline positions, from which shoreline change rates have been estimated using statistical parameters: shoreline change envelope (SCE), net shoreline movement (NSM), and end-point rate (EPR). Non-metric multi-dimensional scaling (nMDS) has been applied for shoreline classification into dynamic sectors. This study was carried out along 90.6 km of Lithuanian Baltic Sea coast over the time span 1947 to 2010. The study demonstrated that combined use of cartographic data and statistical methods could be a reliable method for shoreline related studies. Application of such data seems to be trustworthy in qualitative monitoring of shoreline changes, while it is the only available method for long term studies.