Investigation of morphological change at the cua dai river mouth through satellite image analysis

Morphology of Cua Dai River mouth and adjacent sandy beaches in Hoi An City, Vietnam has been being eroded severely in recent years. Based on analysis of Landsat images, the long-Term evolution, decadal scale, of morphology at this area since 1975 to 2015 is discussed. Morphology of river mouth in the period from 1975 to 1991 is highly similar to one in the period from 2003 to 2015, long sandspit on the left side and cuspate shoreline (cuspate foreland) on the right side, whereas the formation of double sandspit and welding between them after that was observed in the period from 1995 to 2002. From the characteristics of morphological change, there are three types of river mouth formed during the 40-year long period are classified. In addition, results of image analysis also indicate that the right bank of river shifted southward about 250 m. This is corresponding to the period with elongation of sandspit on the left after welding from offshore sandbar. The tip of cuspate shoreline on the right side was also observed to move to the south during the period that right river bank shifting southward. Besides the reduction of sediment supply to the river mouth, the shifting to south of main river channel diverting more sediment deposit on the right side of the river mouth, resulting in the erosion of the Cua Dai Beach on the left side became more serious. Countermeasure, which diverts more sediment to the left side, is highly required. Detailed effectiveness and magnitude of this structure can be evaluated based on numerical simulation.