Climate Change Impacts on Maritime Resources in Lebanon Using Satellites Imagery, Chekka Case Study

Abstract

This paper aims to explore the impact of climate change on underwater and coastal sites over the past few decades, with a specific focus on the Chekka area in North Lebanon. Given its rich maritime archaeology potential, this region has become a focal point, especially with the ongoing developments posing a threat to cultural resources. Detecting climate changes necessitates extensive measurements from various sources globally, including land stations, ships, and satellite imagery. In this study, we concentrate on changes in sea surface temperature (SST) over the last 20 to 40 years. The analysis heavily relies on satellite imagery, with a primary focus on Landsat 8, equipped with two bands of the thermal infrared sensor (TIRS), and Landsat 7, which carries the Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) sensor, and also Landsat 5 TM. Utilizing QGIS for the calculation of SST, our findings reveal a noteworthy increase of 1° in sea surface temperature over the past two decades. This observation underscores the significance of ongoing climate change and its potential repercussions for the underwater and coastal cultural heritage in the Chekka area and its suburbs.