Oak View, CA Coastal Erosion Rate
What USGS measures 7.6 miles southwest of Oak View, CA
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 7.6 miles southwest of Oak View, CA, at 0.15 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 1.5 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 Oak View, CA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 34.32, -119.39. USGS's California assessment last surveyed this stretch through 1852-2016, computing the rate with its LRR method. Other US regions were surveyed in different years, sometimes decades apart, so this page states its own rather than implying one national vintage.
What 0.15 ft/yr means over time
Run 7.6 miles southwest of Oak View, CA's 0.15 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 4 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
Where this fits nationally
Averaging 46 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 100% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. Uncertainty on this specific number: 0.1 ft/yr either side. This segment ranks 573 of 1211 measured US coastal segments, ordered from fastest erosion to fastest growth. Source: USGS National Shoreline Change data release (ScienceBase, DOI 10.5066/P94J0K7Z), Kratzmann 2024 / Data Report 1187. Rank 308 nationally for erosion belongs to Deal, NJ, 2501 miles from this stretch, measured at 0.47 ft/yr, 3.1x this stretch's rate. 1.8 miles away, Carpinteria, CA is the nearest other measured stretch: also no significant trend.
Not this whole stretch, just Oak View itself: the Coastal Change Hazards Portal is USGS's own live version of this data.