An Extended Analysis of Coastal Reclamation Areas through the Utilization of Remote Sensing Data and Landscape Metrics

Karagöz, B. and Musaoğlu, N., 2024. An extended analysis of coastal reclamation areas through the utilization of remote sensing data and landscape metrics. In: Phillips, M.R.; Al-Naemi, S., and Duarte, C.M. (eds.), Coastlines under Global Change: Proceedings from the International Coastal Symposium (ICS) 2024 (Doha, Qatar). Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 113, pp. 539-543. Charlotte (North Carolina), ISSN 0749-0208. Coastal areas are regions with high ecological fragility. Factors such as natural disasters, climate crises, rising sea levels, population growth, and urbanization contribute to spatial transformations in the land use of coastal areas. Consequently, these changes lead to the loss of ecological characteristics in coastal zones, the expansion of residential areas, and the emergence of challenges related to controlling this growth, which is emphasized within the scope of this research. This study will conduct a Long-Term Analysis using remote sensing data and landscape metrics, focusing on parameters such as changes in land use/land cover (LU/LC), alterations in the habitat loss in coastal reclamation areas. This study focuses on analyzing land reclamation areas along the Sea of Marmara coast using satellite imagery from 1990 to 2023. Initially, LU/LC map were obtained from CORINE Level 1 data for the year 1990. Besides, 2023 LU/LC cover map produced from Sentinel-2 data. Furthermore, a detailed examination of habitat fragmentation and loss in coastal areas were conducted using landscape metrics. According to the analysis results, there was a 138.70% increase in artificial areas within the study region, leading to the creation of a total of 1,410.42 hectares of reclamation area. These changes resulted in significant habitat alteration and loss.