www.tjprc.org editor@tjprc.org International Journal of Environment, Ecology, Family and Urban Studies (IJEEFUS) ISSN(P): 2250-0065; ISSN(E): 2321-0109 Vol. 5, Issue 6, Dec 2015, 21-28 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd. COASTAL MORPHOLOGICAL DYNAMICS OF NAYACHARA ISLAND USING GEOINFORMATICS SUBHANIL GUHA 1 & ANINDITA DEY 2 1 Department of Geography, Dinabandhu Andrews College, Kolkata, West Bengal, India 2 Assistant Teacher, Nazrul Balika Vidyalaya, West Bengal, India ABSTRACT Nayachara, a small island of unconsolidated alluvium, located at the confluence of the Hugly River and the Haldi River at the northern extent of the Bay of Bengal. The island is characterized by complex coastal geomorphological processes along with tidal and cyclonic activities. The present study has analyzed the recent morphological changes of Nayachara Island due to erosion and accretion using a series of multi-temporal satellite images namely IRS 1C 28/11/99, IRS 1C 27/03/2000, IRS 1D 19/02/2001, IRS P6 20/11/2005 and IRS P6 28/02/2008. The entire analytical research work has been performed under a sophisticated remote sensing and GIS environment to achieve higher accuracy in computation. The final output reveals that in very recent years, high rate of erosional activities taking place over the study area. Frequent tides with severe cyclones and soil erosion due to large scale deforestation are strongly responsible for the entire land loss in recent years. KEYWORDS: Alluvium, Geomorphology, GIS, Multi-Temporal, Remote Sensing Received: Nov 11, 2015; Accepted: Nov 17, 2015; Published: Nov 22, 2015; Paper Id.: IJEEFUSDEC20154 INTRODUCTION The Hugli estuary is a highly dynamic coastal zone. It faces remarkable tidal and cyclonic activities throughout the year. Hence, it requires continuous monitoring and updating of tidal information. Recently, remote sensing and GIS techniques help to monitor the dynamic environment. The study area is located in West Bengal covering parts of Purba Medinipur district. The latitudinal extent of the study area is from 21 0 54 ' north to 22 0 02 ' north and longitudinal extent of the study area is from 88 0 02 ' east to 88 0 09' east. Nayachara Island virtually divides the Hugli River into two channels. Till the early eighties, the channel between Nayachara and Haldia (Jellingham- Haldia channel) was navigable up to Kolkata Dock. But because of reduced flow, sediments started getting deposited further up stream instead of compensating erosion in the sea-facing islands. Bifurcation of flood flow took place near the tail of Nayachara Island (southern end) proved to be the major resistance for flood flow causing change in flow path. The same resistance attributes for damping effect and gradual cessation of flood flow through Haldia channel. Several works have been done earlier on this context. An assessment has been made on land use dynamics and shoreline changes of Sagar Island using remote sensing techniques (Ghosh et al., 2001). Estimation has been done on the erosion process of the Coast of Sagar Island (Gopinath and Seralathan, 2005). A research has been performed on space and time related changes of land surface parameters in the Red River of the North basin (Melesse, 2004). Apart from these, an evaluation has been made on the coastal erosion due to wave dynamics operative in Sundarban delta (Purkait, 2008). Moreover, Landsat TM data has been used in order to Original Article