A recent erosional problem around a river delta on the Cox’s Bazar coast was analyzed in this study. The coastline extends from south to north. Rapid erosion has affected some portions of a 24-km road along the coast, and local authorities have attempted to protect the road via revetment. However, the structure was soon buried with sediment because of a growing sand spit along the river delta, and a new area was eroded. Shoreline positions for a 44-year (1972–2016) period were digitized using Landsat images. From the time stack images, we observed a sand spit growing in a northward direction from 2000 to 2015, and the adjacent erosion area extended in the same direction. We employed a numerical model (MIKE21FM SM) for the computation of wave-driven currents and sediment transport along the coast, and attempted to reproduce recent erosional processes. The numerical result shows that net littoral drift is dominant in the northward direction along the coast, which is the same direction of the spit growth observed in the satellite images. A higher amplitude spit induces higher sediment transport compared to a low amplitude spit because of the difference in local incident wave angles resulting in greater positive gradient of the longshore sediment flux distribution, causing erosion in the downcoast.

In this study, we analyze the influence of the Great East Japan Earthquake, which occurred on 11 March 2011, on the shoreline of the northern Ibaraki Coast. After the earthquake, the area experienced subsidence of approximately 0.4 m. Shoreline changes at eight sandy beaches along the coast are estimated using various satellite images, including the ASTER (Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer), ALOS AVNIR-2 (Advanced Land Observing Satellite, Advanced Visible and Near-infrared Radiometer type 2), and Sentinel-2 (a multispectral sensor). Before the earthquake (for the period March 2001–January 2011), even though fluctuations in the shoreline position were observed, shorelines were quite stable, with the averaged change rates in the range of ±1.5 m/year. The shoreline suddenly retreated due to the earthquake by 20–40 m. Generally, the amount of retreat shows a strong correlation with the amount of land subsidence caused by the earthquake, and a moderate correlation with tsunami run-up height. The ground started to uplift gradually after the sudden subsidence, and shoreline positions advanced accordingly. The recovery speed of the beaches varied from +2.6 m/year to +6.6 m/year, depending on the beach conditions.

Hai Hau, located in northern Vietnam, has suffered from severe coastal erosion with a retreat rate reaching 20 m/yr in recent years. Based on a systematic review of the literature, the shoreline recession trend along the Hai Hau is associated with the decline of water and sediment discharged from the So River, assumed to be active after a great flood in 1787, resulting in channel bifurcation and abandonment of the former channel. A historical analysis of the shoreline evolution of approximately a thousand years (the year 1000 – present) was conducted along this scenario using a modified one-line model. The simulated shorelines agreed well with the results of carbon-14 dating analysis, the historical reference points and shoreline positions extracted from the old maps, and the recently measured shoreline change derived from Landsat imagery. The present study demonstrates that the erosion at the Hai Hau has been ongoing from the end of the 18th century rather than the beginning of the 20th century, as proposed by some previous works. We regard the combined effects of the decrease in river sediment load, and other processes (subsidence and sea level rise (SLR)) are the major causes of long-term erosion on Hai Hau Coast.