Gulf Shores, AL Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change 9.2 miles west of Gulf Shores, AL
9.2 miles west 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.
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 Gulf Shores, AL. Centered near 30.24°N, 87.85°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.
How solid is this number
98 transects feed this segment's number; 61% of them individually measured retreat. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.77 ft/yr. Taken at face value, this segment's raw -0.11 ft/yr reading would land it 625 of 1211 nationally - a number worth ignoring, since it's statistical noise rather than a real trend. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2004-1089. Long Beach, WA sits at national rank 1202 for growth (5.37 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 2230 miles from here. 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.