Description:
In this study an integrated model to estimate total sediment discharge from the river basin to the coastal environment
is developed. Simulated and measured sediments discharge at the river mouth is compared and there is a good
agreement. Also the effect of land use and climate change to the sediment yield is analyzed. The land use data
derived from remotely sensed images of 1976 and 1997 is used as the basis for comparison to see the effect of land
use change. It was observed that using the land use data for the year 1997, total sediment discharge to the coastal
environment increased as compared to the year 1976; this is mainly due to the increased agricultural areas and
residential areas and also decreases in forest area. For analyzing the effect of climate change, HadCM2 model is used
to generate mean daily precipitation for the month for the period 2040-2050 and then daily rainfall amount is
generated from this data using exponential distribution. The results of the sediments discharge to the coastal
environment using this generated data show a decrease in the average annual sediment discharge.