Coastline carrying capacity monitoring and assessment based on GF-1 satellite remote sensing images

The coastline of Zhejiang is the most intensively developed region in China for industry. Based on GF-1 images, an object-oriented classification for coastline was created to monitor coastline exploitation status. A carrying capacity model was then developed to assess the coastline carrying capacity in Zhejiang by means of coastline carrying capacity index (CCI) which is based on coastline artificial parameters and evaluation criterion. The result indicated that coastlines in Cixi, Zhenhai, Fenghua, and Longwan were overloaded with CCI less than 0. The coastlines in Pinghu, Yinzhou, Ninghai, and Dinghai were critically overloaded with CCI ranging from 0 to 0.20. The other 17 sections with CCI bigger than 0.20 were considered load sections. It can be argued that the overloaded sections and critical overload sections in urban regions should be in primary consideration for protection. This study provided a possible model for coastline management with respect to exploitation and ecological function conservation.