Palos Verdes Estates, CA Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change right at Palos Verdes Estates, CA
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, right at Palos Verdes Estates, CA, at 0.16 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 1.6 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 Palos Verdes Estates, CA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 33.78, -118.43. Survey years: 1852-2016, method LRR, from USGS's California 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.
What 0.16 ft/yr means over time
Run right at Palos Verdes Estates, CA's 0.16 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 2 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 100% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. The published margin on this reading runs ±0.06 ft/yr. Sorted from fastest erosion to fastest growth across all 1211 measured segments nationally, this one lands at 557. Source: USGS National Shoreline Change data release (ScienceBase, DOI 10.5066/P94J0K7Z), Kratzmann 2024 / Data Report 1187. For scale: Oak View, CA, 67 miles away, ranks 573 of 1211 nationally for erosion, 0.15 ft/yr, 0.9x this stretch's rate. 2 miles away, Palos Verdes Estates, CA is the nearest other measured stretch: slight accretion (beach growing) at 0.17 ft/yr.
Palos Verdes Estates, CA on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.