An Interactive Spatial Model of Pulicat Lagoon Using Geographic Information System

In recent years, modeling has emerged as an invaluable tool for understanding the functioning of coastal lagoons. Modelling the environmental characteristics of the coastal area near the Bay of Bengal, India has received increasing attention from researchers in the past years. This interest has stimulated a scientific investigation of lagoon ecosystems, which have been studied from the physical, chemical, biological and ecological points of view. Finding the inter-relationships among the environmental factors of an ecosystem is crucial to address the measures to be taken for the sustainable development of ecoresources. In this study, a spatial model has been attempted in applying these inter-relationships to understand and visualize a complex lagoon ecosystem along the south east coast of India. Owing to its unique hydrology and biogeochemistry, Pulicat lagoon, a coastal lake, was chosen for building a spatial model to represent its ecological status. Data concerning the environmental parameters were collected based on a comprehensive study conducted in the lagoon in years 2005 and 2006. An interactive spatial information system has been generated for the lagoon. A modelling environment has been developed using Geographic Information System (GIS) components called MapObjects in a Visual Basic environment. In this study, we attempted to develop and use an interactive GIS application to model a coastal brackish water environment. The output of the research is intended to be used in the process of decision-making in order to help environmental managers and administrators involved in the preservation and restoration of the Pulicat lagoon ecosystem.