Shoreline change after 12 years of tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia: a multi-resolution, multi-temporal satellite data and GIS approach

Abstract

The Indian Ocean Tsunami event on the 26 December 2004 has caused severe damage of some shorelines in Banda Aceh City, Indonesia. Tracing back the impact can be seen using remote sensing data combined with GIS. The approach is incorporated with image processing to analyze the extent of shoreline changes with multi-temporal data after 12 years of tsunami. This study demonstrates multi-resolution and multi-temporal satellite images of QuickBird and IKONOS to demarcate the shoreline of Banda Aceh shoreline from before and after tsunami. The research has demonstrated a significant change to the shoreline in the form of abrasion between 2004 and 2005 from few meters to hundred meters’ change. The change between 2004 and 2011 has not returned to the previous stage of shoreline before the tsunami, considered post tsunami impact. The abrasion occurs between 18.3 to 194.93 meters. Further, the change in 2009-2011 shows slowly change of shoreline of Banda Aceh, considered without impact of tsunami e.g. abrasion caused by ocean waves that erode the coast and on specific areas accretion occurs caused by sediment carried by the river flow into the sea near the shoreline of the study area.