Montauk, NY Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change 4.3 miles east of Montauk, NY
The coast 4.3 miles east of Montauk, NY has been retreating at a measured 0.18 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 1.8 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 Montauk, NY. Centered near 41.06°N, 71.87°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 0.18 ft/yr holds for the next 25 years, the coast 4.3 miles east of Montauk, NY would retreat roughly 5 more feet, a projection, not a certainty: erosion rates shift with storms, sediment supply and any armoring built in the meantime.
How solid is this number
Averaging 44 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 84% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.12 ft/yr. Sorted from fastest erosion to fastest growth across all 1211 measured segments nationally, this one lands at 523. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. Port Arthur, TX sits at national rank 43 for erosion (5.97 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 1465 miles from here. Montauk, NY, 1.9 miles off, is the adjacent measured stretch, reading slight erosion at 0.28 ft/yr.
Montauk, NY on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.