Morphodynamic classification of Ipojuca´s sandy beaches (Pernambuco, Brazil) trough semantic analysis of panchromatic satellite images

Abstract

This paper presents the morphodynamic classification of Ipojuca´s beaches, southern of Pernambuco State through the interpretation of panchromatic satellite images freely available on Google Earth. A total of 61 images were analyzed in which morphological features were used to state the morphodynamical stages proposed for beaches dominated by waves, by tide, tide modified and controlled by coastal geomorphology. The observations included the surf zone, the swash zone and the dry beach. From the images, it was possible to identify the presence of tridimensional features at those environments, as well as the absence of it and the presence of geomorphological features that control the nearshore processes. It was possible to observe that, despite the small extension (< 30 km), the studied coastline presents a high diversity of morphodynamic stages and the domain of distinct forces as modeling agents for these beaches.