PROJECTING CHANGES IN COASTAL MORPHOLOGY BY SATISFYING PREREQUISITE CONDITIONS OF SLAMM SOFTWARE IN CONTEXT OF SUNDARBAN

Abstract. RS and GIS data have been acquired as a primary source for study. The satellite images mainly show the temporal changes in coastal morphology and shorelines of the area. The main aim is to analyze the applicability of a platform called SLAMM or Sea Level Affecting Marshes Model to predict the changes related to the different kinds of ecosystems in the Sundarbans with the eustatic rise in sea level. A satellite image (LANDSAT) of the year 2001 of the study area was used as a base map. Using this base map, an attempt has been made to forsee the morphological changes to the ecosystems up to the year 2016 using SLAMM (Payo, et al., 2016). It has investigated the changes in coastal scenario and also its effect on the vegetation and other factors of sundarban. The results indicate that tidal flats are increasing along with the year thus degrading the ocean beach and the amount of vegetation coverage, especially that of mangroves which has degraded between these years and may predict its changes up till the end of 21st century. The SLAMM software will also show the accuracy depending on the calibration and SLR depending on MSL and MTL to that of the real world scenario. Hence the final output will facilitate us with certain future scope which may help for better and bigger approaches of study towards the development of coastal management.