Bodega Bay, CA Coastal Erosion Rate
What USGS measures 2.2 miles southeast of Bodega Bay, CA
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 2.2 miles southeast of Bodega Bay, CA, at 0.25 feet of erosion a year on average, a long-term rate for this specific ~3.5-mile section, not one storm's damage. At that rate, the shoreline has lost roughly 2.5 feet over the last decade.
The grain of this number
USGS surveys the coast in transects spaced a few hundred feet apart; this page groups the nearest ones into a single ~3.5-mile reading for the stretch closest to Bodega Bay, CA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 38.30, -123.01. Survey years: 1852-2016, method LRR, from USGS's California shoreline-change assessment. That's how current the data is here, real, but not a live feed, since a shoreline survey is a major undertaking, not an annual check-in.
What 0.25 ft/yr means over time
Run 2.2 miles southeast of Bodega Bay, CA's 0.25 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 6 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
Where this fits nationally
This reading comes from 47 individual transects averaged together, 82% of which measured erosion rather than growth. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.23 ft/yr. This segment ranks 442 of 1211 measured US coastal segments, ordered from fastest erosion to fastest growth. Source: USGS National Shoreline Change data release (ScienceBase, DOI 10.5066/P94J0K7Z), Kratzmann 2024 / Data Report 1187. Rank 113 nationally for erosion belongs to Captiva, FL, 2496 miles from this stretch, measured at 2.34 ft/yr, 9.4x this stretch's rate. 2.1 miles away, Bodega Bay, CA is the nearest other measured stretch: also no significant trend.
Bodega Bay, CA on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.