Old Orchard Beach, ME Coastal Erosion Rate
What USGS measures 2.3 miles east of Old Orchard Beach, ME
Good news, and an honest one: USGS's data can't distinguish this stretch, 2.3 miles east of Old Orchard Beach, ME, from a flat trend. Whatever small movement it measured here is statistical noise, not a reliable direction, so none is claimed.
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 Old Orchard Beach, ME, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 43.55, -70.31. 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.
How solid is this number
63 transects feed this segment's number; 13% of them individually measured retreat. Uncertainty on this specific number: 0.6 ft/yr either side. The unadjusted figure here, 0.27 ft/yr, would place it 957 of 1211 if ranked directly - but an unreliable rank isn't a useful one, which is exactly why "no significant trend" is the headline instead. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. Atlantic City, NJ sits at national rank 1159 for growth (2.07 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 358 miles from here. 2.2 miles away, Old Orchard Beach, ME is the nearest other measured stretch: accretion (beach growing) at 1.28 ft/yr.
Old Orchard Beach, ME on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.