Gargatha, VA Coastal Erosion Rate
Is the coast eroding 2.4 miles east of Gargatha, VA?
The coast 2.4 miles east of Gargatha, VA has been retreating at a measured 4.41 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 44.1 feet over the last decade.
The grain of this number
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 Gargatha, VA. Centered near 37.79°N, 75.53°W. Survey years: 2007-2009, method LRR, from USGS's New England / Mid-Atlantic shoreline-change assessment. That's how current the data is here, real, but not a live feed, since a shoreline survey is a major undertaking, not an annual check-in.
25 years at this rate
If 4.41 ft/yr holds for the next 25 years, the coast 2.4 miles east of Gargatha, VA would retreat roughly 110 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 46 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 100% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. Uncertainty on this specific number: 1.38 ft/yr either side. This segment ranks 62 of 1211 measured US coastal segments, ordered from fastest erosion to fastest growth. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. Rank 335 nationally for erosion belongs to Vineyard Haven, MA, 351 miles from this stretch, measured at 0.43 ft/yr, a small fraction of this stretch's own rate. 2 miles away, Modest Town, VA is the nearest other measured stretch: severe erosion at 3.63 ft/yr.
Gargatha, VA on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.