Coastal Erosion Assessment for Protecting Cultural Heritage

Coastal erosion and sea-level rise are included in the seven climate-change related processes listed by the United Nations that have a negative impact on Cultural Heritage (CH). Coastal archaeological sites are threatened by coastal retreat, accelerated erosion and anthropogenic use. Left unchecked, the increasing sea levels, intensified erosion, and more frequent and severe mega storms pose a significant threat to many of the world's important archaeological sites, leading to their potential destruction.This paper proposes a methodology for coastline extraction in Landsat 5 and Sentinel-2 images, utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) models and image processing techniques. Focusing on shoreline alterations near Mykonos Town, Greece, our approach demonstrates satisfactory coastline extraction, with observed erosion within acceptable margins. Leveraging deep learning networks, particularly U-Net CNN, alongside Super Resolution (SR) techniques, enhances accuracy in coastline detection. Additionally, Mean Absolute Difference (MAD) values serve as metrics for evaluating coastline accuracy. The MAD value for the whole area was about 1.4 pixels i.e. 14m. This study highlights the potential of free of charge high resolution satellite images and RS methods to provide valuable insights into the dynamic nature of coastal environments and safeguarding coastal heritage.