USING REMOTE SENSING TO DETECT THE COASTLINE CHANGE FOR MANGROVE REPLANTATION AT BAN LAEM SING, CHAO PHRAYA RIVERMOUTH, IN THE GULF OF THAILAND

The coastline of the Choa Phraya Rivermouth in the Upper Gulf of Thailand has been changed drastically. The western side especially at Ban Laem Sing was eroded for 400 meter in 26 years or with the rate of 15 meter per year on the average. The Metropolitan Electricity Authority has granted five years research project to us to study the efficiency of the electric pole fence as a mean to reduce the wave force and increase sedimentation rate inside for mangrove replantation. If the method works efficiently, it will be used to reclaim the coastal land loss in other areas in Thailand. The project was done since 2005 after the fence was constructed completely in October 2005. The oceanographic surveys were conducted before and after the construction in northeast monsoon season to study the impact of physical oceanographic forces on the coastline change. The sedimentation rates were measured each month. It is rather low about 2 cm/month. The subsiding rate from the load of deltaic sediment and groundwater withdraw using boring data is about 30 mm/year. The cumulative sinking rate is 55.8 cm from 1978 to 1995. We have tried to design the method of mangrove plantation in this area. The remote sensing data such as LANDSAT and aerial photos from 1987 to 2002 for 15 years were used to compute the rate of coastline change at each 50 m section along the western side of the rivermouth.