{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,4,3]],"date-time":"2026-04-03T11:59:03Z","timestamp":1775217543098,"version":"3.50.1"},"reference-count":62,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"4","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,10]],"date-time":"2023-02-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1675987200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Strategic Priority Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences","award":["XDA19030105"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["XDA19030105"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"abstract":"<jats:p>As the boundary between the sea and the land, information on the location and type of coastline constantly changes with environmental changes in coastal zones. Monitoring of coastline changes in long time series becomes important for the monitoring and assessment of the coastal zone environment. In this study, Landsat series images from five time periods (1990, 2000, 2010, 2015, and 2020) were selected for monitoring and analyzing the changes in coastline length, sea\u2013land pattern, the index of coastline diversity, and fractal dimension characteristics. Our conclusions are as follows: (1) The lengths of the entire coastline and the artificial coastline of mainland China increased from 30,041.22 km and 10,022.49 km in 1990 to 32,977.34 km and 17,660.84 km in 2020, with annual change rates of 97.87 km\/year and 254.61 km\/year, respectively. From 1990 to 2020, the rate of natural coastline decreased from 66.68% to 42.29%, and the artificial coastline increased from 33.32% to 57.71%. (2) The length of natural coastline decreased from 20,018.73 km to 15,316.5 km; among the types of natural coastline, the length of sandy coastline and bedrock coastline decreased the most, at 2062.95 km and 1815.8 km, respectively. (3) The coastal zone of mainland China had a significant increase in land area, with a net increase of about 10,902.55 km2. (4) The index of coastline diversity continued to decrease, and the coastline structure tended to be simple. The fractal dimension of the mainland coastline was consistent with the trend of the length of the coastline, which basically shows an increasing trend. Therefore, the length of the mainland coastline and artificial coastline displayed an upward trend between 1990 and 2020, which also led to simpler coastline diversity and more complex coastline shapes. Since the first year of the SDGs (2015), the growth rate of the artificial coastline has decreased by 158.32 km\/year compared with that between 2010 and 2015. In recent years, China has enacted a number of laws, regulations, and action plans to protect its coastline, and it has proposed that by 2020, the proportion of natural coastline will be no less than 35%. The rapid development of China\u2019s coastal areas drives the construction of coastal zone cities but also creates a variety of challenges for the ecological environment of the coastal zone, and the management and sustainable use of the mainland coastline resources should be further strengthened.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/rs15040981","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,10]],"date-time":"2023-02-10T05:51:06Z","timestamp":1676008266000},"page":"981","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":42,"title":["Analysis of China\u2019s Coastline Changes during 1990\u20132020"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"15","author":[{"given":"Kaixin","family":"Li","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"School of Marine Technology and Geomatics, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang 222005, China"}]},{"given":"Li","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6377-1094","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Bowei","family":"Chen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"}]},{"given":"Jian","family":"Zuo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"}]},{"given":"Fan","family":"Yang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"International Research Center of Big Data for Sustainable Development Goals, Beijing 100094, China"},{"name":"Key Laboratory of Digital Earth Science, Aerospace Information Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100094, China"}]},{"given":"Li","family":"Li","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"School of Marine Technology and Geomatics, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang 222005, China"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","first-page":"69","article-title":"Coastal Zone\u2014The Key Area to the Studies on Global Change","volume":"16","author":"Zhang","year":"1997","journal-title":"Mar. Sci. Bull."},{"key":"ref_2","first-page":"5","article-title":"Review and Prospect of Coastal Zone Planning Based on Land and Sea Integration","volume":"35","author":"Wen","year":"2019","journal-title":"Planners"},{"key":"ref_3","first-page":"19","article-title":"Study on Land-ocean Interaction in the Coastal Zone and our Strategy","volume":"11","author":"Li","year":"1996","journal-title":"Adv. Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_4","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"157","DOI":"10.1007\/s11806-011-0522-z","article-title":"Spatial Modeling Using High Resolution Image for Future Shoreline Prediction Along Junput Coast, West Bengal, India","volume":"14","author":"Santra","year":"2011","journal-title":"Geo-Spat. Inf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_5","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1791","DOI":"10.1007\/s11430-016-5317-5","article-title":"Characteristics of coastline changes in mainland China since the early 1940s","volume":"59","author":"Hou","year":"2016","journal-title":"Sci. China Earth Sci."},{"key":"ref_6","first-page":"31","article-title":"Spatial and Temporal of Continental Coastline of China in recent three decades","volume":"35","author":"Gao","year":"2013","journal-title":"Acta Oceanol. Sin."},{"key":"ref_7","first-page":"1170","article-title":"Review of Research on Coastline Changes","volume":"36","author":"Wu","year":"2016","journal-title":"Acta Ecol. Sin."},{"key":"ref_8","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"160","DOI":"10.1016\/j.geomorph.2012.11.025","article-title":"Geomorphic and human influence on large-scale coastal change","volume":"199","author":"Hapke","year":"2013","journal-title":"Geomorphology"},{"key":"ref_9","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"15","DOI":"10.1016\/j.gloplacha.2015.12.018","article-title":"Global coastal wetland change under sea-level rise and related stresses: The DIVA Wetland Change Mode","volume":"139","author":"Spencer","year":"2016","journal-title":"Glob. Planet. Change"},{"key":"ref_10","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"80","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ocecoaman.2015.11.016","article-title":"A methodology for assessing and mapping pressure of human activities on coastal region based on stepwise logic decision process and GIS technology","volume":"120","author":"Wu","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ocean Coast. Manag."},{"key":"ref_11","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"2022","DOI":"10.1073\/pnas.1717312115","article-title":"Climate-change\u2013driven accelerated sea-level rise detected in the altimeter era","volume":"115","author":"Nerem","year":"2018","journal-title":"Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA"},{"key":"ref_12","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"116675","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jenvman.2022.116675","article-title":"Thirty-year changes of the coastlines, wetlands, and ecosystem services in the Asia major deltas","volume":"326","author":"Liu","year":"2023","journal-title":"J. Environ. Manag."},{"key":"ref_13","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"105967","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ocecoaman.2021.105967","article-title":"Southeast Asia island coastline changes and driving forces from 1990 to 2015","volume":"215","author":"Zhang","year":"2021","journal-title":"Ocean Coast. Manag."},{"key":"ref_14","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"112734","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2021.112734","article-title":"Mapping Australia\u2019s dynamic coastline at mean sea level using three decades of Landsat imagery","volume":"267","author":"Nanson","year":"2021","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_15","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"251","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ocecoaman.2018.11.014","article-title":"Effect of coastal land use change on coastline dynamics along the Nigerian Transgressive Mahin mud coast","volume":"168","author":"Dada","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ocean Coast. Manag."},{"key":"ref_16","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"100470","DOI":"10.1016\/j.crm.2022.100470","article-title":"Land loss implications of sea level rise along the coastline of Colombia under different climate change scenarios","volume":"39","author":"Nevermann","year":"2023","journal-title":"Clim. Risk Manag."},{"key":"ref_17","first-page":"925","article-title":"The impact of sea-level rise in China\u2019s coastal areas and its disaster hazard evaluation","volume":"13","author":"Chen","year":"1997","journal-title":"Coast. Res."},{"key":"ref_18","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ecss.2017.04.008","article-title":"Temporal-spatial variations and driving factors analysis of coastal reclamation in China","volume":"191","author":"Meng","year":"2017","journal-title":"Estuar. Coast. Shelf Sci."},{"key":"ref_19","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"S54","DOI":"10.1016\/j.jmarsys.2010.02.005","article-title":"Coastline change detection with satellite remote sensing for environmental management of the Pearl River Estuary, China","volume":"82","author":"Li","year":"2010","journal-title":"J. Mar. Syst."},{"key":"ref_20","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Fu, Y., Guo, Q.Z., Wu, X.X., Fang, H., and Pan, Y.Y. (2017). Analysis and Prediction of Changes in Coastline Morphology in the Bohai Sea, China, Using Remote Sensing. Sustainability, 9.","DOI":"10.3390\/su9060900"},{"key":"ref_21","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Xu, N., Jia, D.Z., Ding, L., and Wu, Y. (2018). Continuously Tracking the Annual Changes of the Hengsha and Changxing Islands at the Yangtze River Estuary from 1987 to 2016 Using Landsat Imagery. Water, 10.","DOI":"10.3390\/w10020171"},{"key":"ref_22","first-page":"102711","article-title":"Temporal and spatial variation of coastline using remote sensing images for Zhoushan archipelago, China","volume":"107","author":"Chen","year":"2022","journal-title":"Int. J. Appl. Earth Obs. Geoinf."},{"key":"ref_23","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"282","DOI":"10.1007\/s11806-011-0551-7","article-title":"A Shoreline Change Analysis Along the Coast Between Kanyakumari and Tuticorin, India, Using Digital Shoreline Analysis System","volume":"14","author":"Sheik","year":"2011","journal-title":"Geo-Spat. Inf. Sci."},{"key":"ref_24","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"56","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ocecoaman.2019.01.007","article-title":"Analysis of coastline change in relation to meteorological conditions and human activities in Ca mau cape, Vietnam","volume":"171","author":"Duong","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ocean Coast. Manag."},{"key":"ref_25","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"58","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ocecoaman.2018.12.006","article-title":"Assessing coastal erosion and accretion trends along two contrasting subtropical rivers based on remote sensing data","volume":"169","year":"2019","journal-title":"Ocean Coast. Manag."},{"key":"ref_26","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"260","DOI":"10.1016\/j.rse.2019.04.010","article-title":"Coastline extraction from repeat high resolution satellite imagery","volume":"229","author":"Dai","year":"2019","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_27","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"6","DOI":"10.1016\/j.catena.2019.03.023","article-title":"Coastline shift analysis in data deficient regions: Exploiting the high spatio-temporal resolution Sentinel-2 products","volume":"179","author":"Saleem","year":"2019","journal-title":"Catena"},{"key":"ref_28","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"39","DOI":"10.1016\/S0034-4257(02)00185-2","article-title":"Utilizing DEMs derived from LIDAR data to analyze morphologic change in the North Carolina coastline","volume":"85","author":"White","year":"2003","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Environ."},{"key":"ref_29","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1148","DOI":"10.1080\/01431161.2018.1524175","article-title":"The integration of multi-source remote sensing data for the modelling of shoreline change rates in a Mediterranean coastal sector","volume":"40","author":"Aguilar","year":"2018","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_30","first-page":"1","article-title":"Sustainable development of coastal zone based on integrated geological investigation","volume":"31","author":"Zhang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Mar. Geol. Front."},{"key":"ref_31","unstructured":"Wang, X.L. (2017). Variation of Extreme Climate and Its Impact on NDVI in the Coastal Area of China, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (In Chinese)."},{"key":"ref_32","unstructured":"Liu, Y.B. (2021). Evaluation of Typical Ecosystem Service Value in China\u2019s Coastal Zone, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (In Chinese)."},{"key":"ref_33","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"688","DOI":"10.2112\/03-0071.1","article-title":"Shoreline Definition and Detection: A Review","volume":"21","author":"Boak","year":"2005","journal-title":"J. Coast. Res."},{"key":"ref_34","first-page":"41","article-title":"Study of Remote Sensing Interpretation Keys and Extraction Technique of Different types of Shoreline","volume":"3","author":"Sun","year":"2011","journal-title":"Bull. Surv. Mapp."},{"key":"ref_35","first-page":"933","article-title":"Discussion on Classification System of Coastline","volume":"35","author":"Suo","year":"2015","journal-title":"Sci. Geogr. Sin."},{"key":"ref_36","first-page":"295","article-title":"A multisource approach for coastline mapping and identification of shoreline changes","volume":"49","author":"Guariglia","year":"2009","journal-title":"Ann. Geophys."},{"key":"ref_37","first-page":"66","article-title":"Extraction and accuracy evaluation of multi-temporal coastlines of mainland China since 1940s","volume":"38","author":"Hou","year":"2014","journal-title":"Mar. Sci."},{"key":"ref_38","unstructured":"Wu, T. (2016). Analysis of Spatio-Temporal Characteristics of Mainland Coastline Changes in China in Nearly 70 Years, Yantai Institute of Coastal Zone Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences. (In Chinese)."},{"key":"ref_39","first-page":"10","article-title":"Study on the Model of Regional Differentiation of Land Use Degree in China","volume":"12","author":"Zhuang","year":"1997","journal-title":"J. Nat. Resour."},{"key":"ref_40","first-page":"331","article-title":"Scale Effects of China Mainland Coastline Based on Fractal Theory","volume":"66","author":"Gao","year":"2011","journal-title":"Act Geogr. Sin."},{"key":"ref_41","first-page":"406","article-title":"Historical Changes of the Length and Fractal Dimension of Chinese Coastline since 1990","volume":"34","author":"Zhang","year":"2015","journal-title":"Mar. Environ. Sci."},{"key":"ref_42","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"150","DOI":"10.1016\/j.ocecoaman.2014.06.016","article-title":"Spatio-temporal characteristics of the mainland coastline utilization degree over the last 70 years in China","volume":"98","author":"Wu","year":"2014","journal-title":"Ocean. Coast. Manag."},{"key":"ref_43","first-page":"271","article-title":"China\u2019s urban Economic Region in the Open Context","volume":"58","author":"Zhou","year":"2003","journal-title":"Acta Geogr. Sin."},{"key":"ref_44","first-page":"3","article-title":"Regional Economic Cooperation in the Era of Globalization","volume":"5","author":"Li","year":"2002","journal-title":"J. World Econ."},{"key":"ref_45","first-page":"16","article-title":"China\u2019s Great Leap Forward Development of Opening-up Strategy\u2014From Special Economic Zone Construction to One Belt and One Road","volume":"147","author":"Li","year":"2016","journal-title":"Bord. Econ. Cult."},{"key":"ref_46","first-page":"3886","article-title":"Spatial-temporal changes of China\u2019s mangrove forests over the past 50 years: An analysis towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)","volume":"66","author":"Jia","year":"2021","journal-title":"Sci. China Press."},{"key":"ref_47","first-page":"874","article-title":"Monitoring of Salt Ponds and Aquaculture Ponds in the Coastal Zone of China in 1985 and 2010","volume":"14","author":"Yao","year":"2016","journal-title":"Wetl. Sci."},{"key":"ref_48","first-page":"1010","article-title":"Morphological changes of major gulfs along the coast of China from 2010 to 2020","volume":"37","author":"Xu","year":"2022","journal-title":"J. Nat. Resour."},{"key":"ref_49","first-page":"499","article-title":"Research on the interaction between population development and marine economy in China\u2019s coastal areas","volume":"38","author":"Di","year":"2019","journal-title":"Mar. Sci. Bull."},{"key":"ref_50","first-page":"56","article-title":"On the Changes of the Coastline in Bohai Bay during the Last 30 Years","volume":"33","author":"Ye","year":"2016","journal-title":"Ocean Dev. Manag."},{"key":"ref_51","first-page":"139","article-title":"Analysis of impact effects and changes of the coastline in the Bohai Bay during the past 40 years","volume":"4","author":"Sun","year":"2017","journal-title":"J. East China Norm. Univ. (Nat. Sci.)"},{"key":"ref_52","first-page":"330","article-title":"Characteristics of coastline change and multiyear evolution of the Yellow River Delta","volume":"37","author":"Wang","year":"2018","journal-title":"J. Appl. Oceanogr."},{"key":"ref_53","first-page":"641","article-title":"Analysis of Temporal and Spatial Variation of Shandong Peninsula Coastline","volume":"33","author":"Wang","year":"2019","journal-title":"Beijing Surv. Mapp."},{"key":"ref_54","first-page":"9","article-title":"Analysis on Coastline and Coastal Wetland Changes in the Hangzhou Bay in Recent 30 Years","volume":"39","author":"Pneg","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Ocean Technol."},{"key":"ref_55","first-page":"481","article-title":"The spatio-temporal change analysis of mainland coastline in Hangzhou Bay from 1990 to 2017","volume":"39","author":"Wang","year":"2020","journal-title":"Mar. Sci. Bull."},{"key":"ref_56","first-page":"26","article-title":"Spatio-temporal evolution analysis of the coastline in the Pearl River Delta from 1973 to 2018","volume":"38","author":"Xia","year":"2020","journal-title":"J. Mar. Sci."},{"key":"ref_57","first-page":"130","article-title":"Remote sensing investigation and recent evolution analysis of Pearl River delta coastline","volume":"25","author":"Zhu","year":"2013","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Land Resour."},{"key":"ref_58","first-page":"178","article-title":"The Remote Sensing Dynamic Monitoring of the Evolution of Shoreline and Mangrove Wetlands in the Zhujiang River Estuary in the Past 30 Years","volume":"22","author":"Zhao","year":"2010","journal-title":"Remote Sens. Land Resour."},{"key":"ref_59","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"937","DOI":"10.1080\/0143116031000139890","article-title":"Automated extraction of coastline from satellite imagery by integrating Canny edge detection and locally adaptive thresholding methods","volume":"25","author":"Liu","year":"2004","journal-title":"Int. J. Remote Sens."},{"key":"ref_60","unstructured":"Dong, H.Y., Xu, P., and Liu, Q. (2015, January 8\u201312). The water coastline detection approaches based on USV vision. Proceedings of the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Cyber Technology in Automation, Control, and Intelligent Systems (CYBER), Shenyang, China."},{"key":"ref_61","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Latini, D., Del, F.F., Palazzo, F., and Minchella, A. (2012, January 22\u201327). Coastline extraction from SAR COSMO-SkyMed data using a new neural network algorithm. Proceedings of the 2012 IEEE International Geoscience and Remote Sensing Symposium, Munich, Germany.","DOI":"10.1109\/IGARSS.2012.6352247"},{"key":"ref_62","first-page":"582","article-title":"Research progress on methods of automatic coastline extraction based on remote sensing images","volume":"23","author":"Wu","year":"2019","journal-title":"J. Remote Sens."}],"container-title":["Remote Sensing"],"original-title":[],"language":"en","link":[{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/15\/4\/981\/pdf","content-type":"unspecified","content-version":"vor","intended-application":"similarity-checking"}],"deposited":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,10]],"date-time":"2025-10-10T18:30:15Z","timestamp":1760121015000},"score":1,"resource":{"primary":{"URL":"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2072-4292\/15\/4\/981"}},"subtitle":[],"short-title":[],"issued":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,10]]},"references-count":62,"journal-issue":{"issue":"4","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2023,2]]}},"alternative-id":["rs15040981"],"URL":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/rs15040981","relation":{},"ISSN":["2072-4292"],"issn-type":[{"value":"2072-4292","type":"electronic"}],"subject":[],"published":{"date-parts":[[2023,2,10]]}}}