Dynamics of Pulicat Lake mouth analysis using geospatial data, east coast of India: Implications to socio-economic scenarios

Pulicat Lake is one of the major wetlands in India. It is the second largest brackish water lagoon in India next to Chilika Lake in Orissa state. Pulicat Lake sits beside the Bay of Bengal so, the study on the mouth is vital. The investigations were carried out by using multi-temporal satellite imageries of IRS P6, LISS III data for four years viz., 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013. Subsequent changes in the width of the lake at the southern side were measured. It is found that the lake mouth is not static but dynamic predominantly fluctuating year by year. Obviously, this poses threat to the lake biodiversity. Hence, it is high time to mitigate, manage, monitor and protect the existing width of the sea mouth to keep the lake biological, ecological, economically active. This paper noticed a considerable change in the mouth of the lake studied using satellite imageries and socio-economic settings.