Corpus Christi, TX Coastal Erosion Rate
Is the coast eroding 15 miles south of Corpus Christi, TX?
The coast 15 miles south of Corpus Christi, TX has been retreating at a measured 0.59 feet a year, USGS's own long-term rate for this stretch, built from historical shoreline positions rather than a single survey. At that rate, the shoreline has lost roughly 5.9 feet over the last decade.
What this reading actually covers
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 Corpus Christi, TX. Centered near 27.55°N, 97.26°W. The survey behind it runs to 2001, in USGS's Gulf of Mexico 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.
25 years at this rate
If 0.59 ft/yr holds for the next 25 years, the coast 15 miles south of Corpus Christi, TX would retreat roughly 15 more feet, a projection, not a certainty: erosion rates shift with storms, sediment supply and any armoring built in the meantime.
Where this fits nationally
Averaging 119 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 100% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.45 ft/yr. Among the 1211 US coastal segments with a measurable trend, this one ranks 272 for erosion, 1 being the fastest-retreating coast in the dataset. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2004-1089. Girdletree, MD sits at national rank 293 for erosion (0.52 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 1468 miles from here. 2.2 miles away, Corpus Christi, TX is the nearest other measured stretch: also no significant trend.
Not this whole stretch, just Corpus Christi itself: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal is USGS's own live version of this data.