Mangrove Forest Cover Change Detection Along the Coastline of Trincomalee District, Sri Lanka Using GIS and Remote Sensing Techniques

Abstract

Vyddiyaratnam Pathmanandakumar

Mangroves provide valuable services to the coastal community in Trincomalee District despite they distributed in the small area. The objectives of this research are to map out the distribution of the mangroves and to detect the change in mangroves in Trincomalee District during the last 20 years. According to this study the reduction in the extent of mangroves caused by clearance for alternative land use including aquaculture, tourism. The total extent of mangroves in Trincomalee district was estimated using Landsat satellite imageries 1997 and 2017. The medium resolution of Landsat imageries may lead to underestimating relatively small, linear mangroves in coastal line of Trincomalee district. The occurrence of clouds in the coastal area can cause data gaps during analysis. This study estimated total mangroves in Trincomalee district was 20.26km2 and 15.07 km2 in 1997 and 2017 respectively and representing a loss of 5.19 km2 in the 20 years (1997-2017). Mangroves loss in the study area varied both spatially and temporally due to differences in habitat alteration pattern. However, Landsat images adequately aided to detect changes in mangroves in Trincomalee district which shows the rate of decline in mangroves.

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