Coastal Vulnerability Mapping by Integrating Geospatial Techniques and Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) along the Vishakhapatnam Coastal Tract, Andhra Pradesh, India

The coastal area supports millions of population in terms of livelihood, settlement and social activities across the world and India. The increasing rate of socioeconomic activities made the coasts susceptible to various hazards. Therefore, this study is aimed to examine the coastal vulnerability of Vishakhapatnam Coastal district using remote sensing and geographic information system. To fulfill this objective, six physical indicators, i.e., geomorphology, land use/land cover, coastal slope, shoreline change rate, etc., were prepared using the multi-temporal datasets of 1991, 2001, 2011 and 2018 and mean tidal height has been considered to calculate the coastal vulnerability index (CVI). The indicators selected for the analysis of coastal vulnerability have been integrated using the rank and weighted methods. The shoreline change has been detected using the digital shoreline analysis system (DSAS). Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) has been used for calculating weights of various indices. The CVI values obtained using different indicators are 2.6 (min) and 14.39 (max). Based on the CVI values, the coast is classified as five classes of vulnerability, i.e., very low (0—4.9) covering 42.5 km, low (4.9—7.3) which covers 29.49 km, moderate (7.3—9.6) covering 23.46 km, high (9.6—12.0) which covers 34.61 km, and very high (12.0–14.39) covering 7.5 km. This integrated study is found useful for exploring the accretion and erosion processes and also for vulnerability mapping in the coastal tract of Vishakhapatnam district.