Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) has carried out coastal vulnerability assessment for entire Indian coast at states level to bring out an Atlascomprising 156 maps on 1:1,00,000 scales to prepare a Coastal Vulnerability Index (CVI).
From this CVI, it can be delineated that Gujarat's 124 coastal kilometers is going to get affected or 5.36%, Maharashtra 11 km or 1.22% and then Karnataka & Goa 48 km or 9.54%, Kerala 15 km or 2.39%, Tamil Nadu 65 km or 6.38%, Andhra Pradesh 6 km or 0.55 %, Odisha 37 km or 7.51% West Bengal 49 km or 2.56%, Lakshadweep Islands 1 km or 0.81%, Andaman Islands 24 km or 0.96km and Nicobar Islands 8 km or 0.97%.
While the maps determine the coastal risks due to future sea-level rise based on the physical and geological parameters for the Indian coast, the CVI uses the relative risk that physical changes will occur as sea-level rises are quantified based on parameters like: tidal range; wave height; coastal slope; coastal elevation; shoreline change rate; geomorphology; and historical rate of relative sea-level change, said senior scientist & Group Director T.M Balakrishnan Nair.
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In an exclusive interaction, he pointed out that coastal vulnerability assessments can be useful information for coastal disaster management and building resilient coastal communities. A coastal Multi-Hazard Vulnerability Mapping (MHVM) was also carried out using parameters like sea level change rate, shoreline change rate, high-resolution coastal elevation, extreme water level from tide gauges and their return periods, he explained.
“These parameters were synthesized to derive the composite hazard zones that can be inundated along the coastal low-lying areas due to extreme flooding events. This MHVM mapping was carried for the entire mainland of India on a 1:25000 scale. These maps depict the coastal low-lying areas exposed to the coastal inundation,” said Dr. Nair.
INCOIS, which is an autonomous body under Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), has been issuing alerts on Potential Fishing Zone, Ocean State Forecast, Tsunami Early Warning, Storm Surge Early Warning, High Wave Alerts, etc., through dedicated ocean modeling, observations, computation facilities and the marine data center.
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“Based on our observations, we are also providing technical solutions and advice to the respective State Governments and Union Territories to deal with coastal management,” the senior scientist, added.