West Hampton Dunes, NY Coastal Erosion Rate
Shoreline change 1.1 miles west of West Hampton Dunes, NY
USGS's shoreline-change data puts this stretch, 1.1 miles west of West Hampton Dunes, NY, at 0.41 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 4.1 feet over the last decade.
What "West Hampton Dunes" 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 West Hampton Dunes, NY, rather than showing one arbitrary line. Segment center: 40.78, -72.73. 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.
What 0.41 ft/yr means over time
Run 1.1 miles west of West Hampton Dunes, NY's 0.41 ft/yr rate forward 25 years and it implies about 10 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
This reading comes from 9 individual transects averaged together, 100% of which measured erosion rather than growth. USGS's confidence interval here is ±0.21 ft/yr. Among the 1211 US coastal segments with a measurable trend, this one ranks 344 for erosion, 1 being the fastest-retreating coast in the dataset. Source: USGS Open-File Report 2010-1119. Virginia Beach, VA sits at national rank 249 for erosion (0.65 ft/yr), one reference point among the 1211 scored segments, 326 miles from here. 1.4 miles up the coast, West Hampton Dunes, NY shows 0.6 ft/yr of eroding.
West Hampton Dunes, NY on the source map: try the Coastal Change Hazards Portal, zoomable well past this page's ~3.5-mile grain.