Klamath, CA Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change 5.5 miles northwest of Klamath, CA
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 5.5 miles northwest of Klamath, CA, at 0.44 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 4.4 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 Klamath, CA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 41.64, -124.12. The survey behind it runs to 1852-2016, in USGS's California 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.
What 0.44 ft/yr means over time
Run 5.5 miles northwest of Klamath, CA's 0.44 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 11 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
How solid is this number
Averaging 51 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 100% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. USGS's confidence interval here is ±0.25 ft/yr. Among the 1211 US coastal segments with a measurable trend, this one ranks 330 for erosion, 1 being the fastest-retreating coast in the dataset. Source: USGS National Shoreline Change data release (ScienceBase, DOI 10.5066/P94J0K7Z), Kratzmann 2024 / Data Report 1187. Dulac, LA sits at national rank 30 for erosion (8.13 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 2046 miles from here. 1.8 miles away, Bertsch-Oceanview, CA is the nearest other measured stretch: slight erosion at 0.34 ft/yr.
Klamath, CA on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.