Kennebunkport, ME Coastal Erosion Rate
Is the coast eroding 1 miles southwest of Kennebunkport, ME?
Unusual good news for this stretch: the shoreline 1 miles southwest of Kennebunkport, ME has grown by a measured 0.22 feet a year on average, per USGS's long-term transect data for this section. At that rate, the shoreline has gained roughly 2.2 feet over the last decade.
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 Kennebunkport, ME. Centered near 43.35°N, 70.47°W. The survey behind it runs to 2007-2009, in USGS's New England / Mid-Atlantic assessment, using the LRR method. Shoreline surveys aren't repeated every year, so this is the most recent long-term measurement USGS has published for this coast, not a live reading.
25 years at this rate
Holding the 0.22 ft/yr accretion rate 1 miles southwest of Kennebunkport, ME for 25 years would add roughly 6 feet of shoreline, again assuming nothing about the local sediment supply changes.
Where this fits nationally
This reading comes from 1 individual transect averaged together, 0% of which measured erosion rather than growth. Uncertainty on this specific number: 0.15 ft/yr either side. Sorted from fastest erosion to fastest growth across all 1211 measured segments nationally, this one lands at 933. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. Costa Mesa, CA sits at national rank 1021 for growth (0.48 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 2616 miles from here. Kennebunkport, ME, 1.3 miles off, is the adjacent measured stretch, itself no significant trend.
Not this whole stretch, just Kennebunkport itself: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal is USGS's own live version of this data.