Corpus Christi, TX Coastal Erosion Rate
Is the coast eroding 3.3 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, TX?
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 3.3 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, TX, at 0.74 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 7.4 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 Corpus Christi, TX, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 27.78, -97.13. USGS's Gulf of Mexico assessment last surveyed this stretch through 2001, 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 0.74 ft/yr means over time
Run 3.3 miles northeast of Corpus Christi, TX's 0.74 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 19 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
How solid is this number
Averaging 3 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 ±0.58 ft/yr. Among the 1211 US coastal segments with a measurable trend, this one ranks 236 for erosion, 1 being the fastest-retreating coast in the dataset. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2004-1089. Vineyard Haven, MA sits at national rank 212 for erosion (0.9 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 1759 miles from here. 2.1 miles up the coast, Corpus Christi, TX shows the same lack of a significant trend.
One address near Corpus Christi: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal zooms past this stretch to the underlying map.