Monitoring by remote sensing of the geomorphological evolution of a part of the Roussillon coastal layout (France)

Monitoring of the Mediterranean coast at the mouths of the rivers Tech and Tet by remote sensing data covering the years 1942 to 1986 shows sudden and dramatic modifications of the streams mouths and coastal layout, resulting from huge floods. These events seem to have had a negligible overall effect on the coastal layout over forty years. There is also evidence for a slow and continuous evolution between crises, characterised by a northerly drift apparently controlled by a coastal counter current and south-east swells. The high resolution satellite images and the aerial photographs used in the case study display a similar efficiency, albeit for different reasons. Using both in combination increases the number and frequency of the observations and helps to select the level of precision needed for a specific investigation