Shoreline evolution of the Red River Delta in the recent 30 years

Based on the data acquired by Landsat remote sensing from 1987 to 2015, ENVI and MapInfo softwares are used to extract shoreline of the Red River Delta to follow up its evolution in the recent 30 years. Integrating the historical coastline together with the runoff and sediment budget of the Red River, and the number of tropical cyclones passing through the sea area in the recent years, the controlling factors of the coastline evolution of the Red River Delta are preliminarily discussed. The study shows that the coastline of the Red River Delta changes alternately with time. The southern part of the Balat estuary mainly retreats towards the land, while the northern part of the estuary mainly advances to the sea. The frequent siltation and erosion in the Balat estuary are mainly related to the change in sediment input caused by dam construction in the upper reaches and the severe erosion by typhoon.