Pascagoula, MS Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change 9.1 miles south of Pascagoula, MS
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 9.1 miles south of Pascagoula, MS, at 12.75 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 127.5 feet over the last decade.
What "Pascagoula" means on this page
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 Pascagoula, MS, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 30.23, -88.57. USGS's Gulf of Mexico assessment last surveyed this stretch through 2001, 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 12.75 ft/yr means over time
Run 9.1 miles south of Pascagoula, MS's 12.75 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 319 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
What backs this reading up
8 transects feed this segment's number; 100% of them individually measured retreat. The published margin on this reading runs ±3.09 ft/yr. This segment ranks 17 of 1211 measured US coastal segments, ordered from fastest erosion to fastest growth. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2004-1089. Rank 11 nationally for erosion belongs to Boothville, LA, 38 miles from this stretch, measured at 15.46 ft/yr, 1.2x this stretch's rate. Pascagoula, MS, 2 miles off, is the adjacent measured stretch, itself no significant trend.
Pascagoula, MS on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.