Cape Neddick, ME Coastal Erosion Rate
Is the coast eroding 6.5 miles north of Cape Neddick, ME?
6.5 miles north of Cape Neddick, ME: USGS's transects didn't pick up a trend here that beats the survey's own uncertainty. That's the majority case nationally, and for this stretch specifically it means the coast is holding, not that the data failed to find anything.
What "Cape Neddick" means on this page
This is a roughly 3.5-mile stretch of coast, not one address or parcel - USGS's own transects run every few hundred feet, but that's finer than any one property needs, so this page reports the stretch nearest Cape Neddick, ME. Centered near 43.26°N, 70.60°W. The survey behind it runs to 2007-2009, in USGS's New England / Mid-Atlantic assessment, using the LRR method. Shoreline surveys aren't repeated every year, so this is the most recent long-term measurement USGS has published for this coast, not a live reading.
What backs this reading up
Averaging 53 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 87% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. Uncertainty on this specific number: 0.18 ft/yr either side. Taken at face value, this segment's raw -0.1 ft/yr reading would land it 644 of 1211 nationally - a number worth ignoring, since it's statistical noise rather than a real trend. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. Rank 1057 nationally for growth belongs to West Sayville, NY, 219 miles from this stretch, measured at 0.66 ft/yr. 1.7 miles up the coast, Kennebunk, ME shows the same lack of a significant trend.
Cape Neddick, ME on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.