Cheriton, VA Coastal Erosion Rate
Is the coast eroding 9.2 miles east of Cheriton, VA?
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 9.2 miles east of Cheriton, VA, at 7.9 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 79 feet over the last decade.
What this reading actually covers
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 Cheriton, VA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 37.26, -75.81. USGS's New England / Mid-Atlantic assessment last surveyed this stretch through 2007-2009, computing the rate with its LRR method. Other US regions were surveyed in different years, sometimes decades apart, so this page states its own rather than implying one national vintage.
What 7.9 ft/yr means over time
Run 9.2 miles east of Cheriton, VA's 7.9 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 198 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
Where this fits nationally
60 transects feed this segment's number; 100% of them individually measured retreat. The published margin on this reading runs ±3.68 ft/yr. Among the 1211 US coastal segments with a measurable trend, this one ranks 32 for erosion, 1 being the fastest-retreating coast in the dataset. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. Rank 328 nationally for erosion belongs to Paia, HI, 4855 miles from this stretch, measured at 0.44 ft/yr, a small fraction of this stretch's own rate. Eastville, VA, 2.4 miles off, is the adjacent measured stretch, reading severe erosion at 3.64 ft/yr.
One address near Cheriton: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal zooms past this stretch to the underlying map.