Davenport, CA Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change 3.4 miles northwest of Davenport, CA
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 3.4 miles northwest of Davenport, CA, at 0.26 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 2.6 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 Davenport, CA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 37.05, -122.24. USGS's California assessment last surveyed this stretch through 1852-2016, 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 0.26 ft/yr means over time
Run 3.4 miles northwest of Davenport, CA's 0.26 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 7 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
What backs this reading up
This reading comes from 52 individual transects averaged together, 94% of which measured erosion rather than growth. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.17 ft/yr. Sorted from fastest erosion to fastest growth across all 1211 measured segments nationally, this one lands at 434. Source: USGS National Shoreline Change data release (ScienceBase, DOI 10.5066/P94J0K7Z), Kratzmann 2024 / Data Report 1187. Rank 492 nationally for erosion belongs to Newport East, RI, 2713 miles from this stretch, measured at 0.21 ft/yr, 0.8x this stretch's rate. Davenport, CA, 1.5 miles off, is the adjacent measured stretch, itself no significant trend.
One address near Davenport: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal zooms past this stretch to the underlying map.