863 ABSTRACT: The Romanian seashore of the Black Sea is 245 km long, almost straight and has a lower altitude. The Midia Cap delimits two sectors: a northern sector, which is longer and at very low altitude, of accumulation origin (with delta and lagoons sectors); and a southern sector, higher (less than 50 m), dominated by marine abrasion, where sea cliffs alternate with beaches. Present geographically researches, based on field observations and topographic maps, aerophotogramms and satellite images analysis, are focused on the rigorous knowledge of the natural changes in the coastline and of those induced by tourism and port activities. In this paper, we will demonstrate how the Landsat images facilitate the observation and mapping of the coastline relief (punctual, sectorial and general), at a certain moment or in its dynamic. The analysis of the selected zooms, in the delta sector, at the mouth of the Danube branches (Chilia, Sulina and Sfântu Gheorghe), in the lagoon sector (Razim-Sinoie complex), in the southern sea cliffs and beaches sector, emphasizes the detailed geomorphologic features of the seashore and its present-day dynamic. This analysis also allows us to define the favorable sectors and to determine the sectors where the infrastructure is at risk (stable sectors or unstable sectors – sea cliffs, undermined sectors, with landfalls, accumulation at the Danube mouth, the decrease or the disappearance of some seashore belts, and of some beaches). Taking into consideration the importance of Romanian seashore of the Black Sea, the observation data and maps obtained through space images analysis are addressed to the port and tourism planning projects. 1 INTRODUCTION Due to its numerous lagoons and to the Danube Delta, the Romanian coastline, measuring 245 km in length, certainly presents the most active dynamics among the shorelines of the Black Sea. The cliff sector, representing just 1/3 of its length, most of it arranged for port and tourist activities, is generally stable. The research concerning nowadays coastline morphodynamics in the Romanian sector currently uses the images provided by remote sensing satellites (Landsat, SPOT, Orbview etc.) (Fig. 1). This paper demonstrates the way how Landsat images make it possible to observe and map the coastline processes and forms of different sectors or of the entire Black Sea shoreline, both as they appear at a certain moment and in their dynamics. For the most dynamic sectors (sector of Danube Delta), the results are comparable with those obtained by means of traditional methods. The analysis of the zooms selected from the deltaic sector from the mouths of the three branches of the Danube (Chilia, Sulina and Sfântu Gheorghe), from the sector of lagoons (Razim-Sinoie, Siutghiol) and from the sector of cliffs and beaches from the south highlights the minute features of the coastline morphology and present morphodynamics, showing the favorable areas as well as the areas presenting different degrees of risk for certain infrastructure works (stable sectors, unstable Observing and mapping the coastline relief in the Romanian sector of the Black Sea using satellite images Vasile Loghin & George Murătoreanu Valahia University of Târgovişte, Romania; vloghin@valahia.ro, muratoreanug@yahoo.com