Gulf Shores, AL Coastal Erosion Rate
Is the coast eroding 3.4 miles southwest of Gulf Shores, AL?
3.4 miles southwest of Gulf Shores, AL: USGS's transects didn't pick up a trend here that beats the survey's own uncertainty. That's the majority case nationally, and for this stretch specifically it means the coast is holding, not that the data failed to find anything.
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 Gulf Shores, AL. Centered near 30.25°N, 87.75°W. Survey years: 2001, method LRR, from USGS's Gulf of Mexico 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.
Where this fits nationally
This reading comes from 93 individual transects averaged together, 99% of which measured erosion rather than growth. Uncertainty on this specific number: 0.64 ft/yr either side. Taken at face value, this segment's raw -0.29 ft/yr reading would land it 407 of 1211 nationally - a number worth ignoring, since it's statistical noise rather than a real trend. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2004-1089. Rank 1091 nationally for growth belongs to Camp Pendleton South, CA, 1751 miles from this stretch, measured at 0.9 ft/yr. Gulf Shores, AL, 3 miles off, is the adjacent measured stretch, itself no significant trend.
Gulf Shores, AL on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.