Shelter Cove, CA Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change 8.3 miles southeast of Shelter Cove, CA
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 8.3 miles southeast of Shelter Cove, CA, at 0.79 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 7.9 feet over the last decade.
What "Shelter Cove" 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 Shelter Cove, CA, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 39.94, -123.97. The survey behind it runs to 1852-2016, in USGS's California 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.
What 0.79 ft/yr means over time
Run 8.3 miles southeast of Shelter Cove, CA's 0.79 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 20 feet of further retreat, assuming nothing changes, which is exactly the assumption a seawall or nourishment project exists to break.
How solid is this number
Averaging 73 separate transects produced this segment's rate, with 75% individually reading as erosion, rather than relying on any single survey line. Uncertainty on this specific number: 0.39 ft/yr either side. Sorted from fastest erosion to fastest growth across all 1211 measured segments nationally, this one lands at 225. Source: USGS National Shoreline Change data release (ScienceBase, DOI 10.5066/P94J0K7Z), Kratzmann 2024 / Data Report 1187. For scale: Long Neck, DE, 2583 miles away, ranks 130 of 1211 nationally for erosion, 2.08 ft/yr, 2.6x this stretch's rate. 1.6 miles up the coast, Shelter Cove, CA shows 0.65 ft/yr of eroding.
Shelter Cove, CA on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.