CoastErosionCheck

Newport East, RI Coastal Erosion Rate

Is the coast eroding 9.6 miles east of Newport East, RI?

Slight erosion

The coast 9.6 miles east of Newport East, RI has been retreating at a measured 0.21 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 2.1 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 Newport East, RI. Centered near 41.51°N, 71.10°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 0.21 ft/yr holds for the next 25 years, the coast 9.6 miles east of Newport East, RI 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.

What backs this reading up

67 transects feed this segment's number; 100% of them individually measured retreat. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.15 ft/yr. Sorted from fastest erosion to fastest growth across all 1211 measured segments nationally, this one lands at 492. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. Ipswich, MA sits at national rank 432 for erosion (0.26 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 85 miles from here. 2.7 miles away, Bliss Corner, MA is the nearest other measured stretch: also no significant trend.

Not this whole stretch, just Newport East itself: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal is USGS's own live version of this data.