Transects with long-term (1800s-2010s) shoreline change rate calculations for the contiguous United States compiled from regional analyses
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maintains shoreline positions for the United States coasts from both older sources, such as aerial photos or topographic surveys, as well as contemporary sources like lidar elevation point clouds and digital elevation models (DEMs). These shorelines are compiled and analyzed in the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software to compute rates of change. It is important to update and maintain records of historical shoreline positions to allow monitoring of change over time, and to identify areas most susceptible to erosion or accretion. These shoreline change data can help coastal managers identify areas along the shore that are most likely to experience significant change over time. This data release is a compilation of long-term rates of change from multiple USGS publications from 2000-2025 for the contiguous United States. Please see the original previously published USGS shoreline change citations for descriptions of methods and data sources for each dataset.
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Complete Metadata
| accessLevel | public |
|---|---|
| bureauCode |
[ "010:12" ] |
| contactPoint |
{ "fn": "Rachel E. Henderson", "@type": "vcard:Contact", "hasEmail": "mailto:rehenderson@usgs.gov" } |
| description | The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) maintains shoreline positions for the United States coasts from both older sources, such as aerial photos or topographic surveys, as well as contemporary sources like lidar elevation point clouds and digital elevation models (DEMs). These shorelines are compiled and analyzed in the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) software to compute rates of change. It is important to update and maintain records of historical shoreline positions to allow monitoring of change over time, and to identify areas most susceptible to erosion or accretion. These shoreline change data can help coastal managers identify areas along the shore that are most likely to experience significant change over time. This data release is a compilation of long-term rates of change from multiple USGS publications from 2000-2025 for the contiguous United States. Please see the original previously published USGS shoreline change citations for descriptions of methods and data sources for each dataset. |
| distribution |
[ { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Digital Data", "format": "XML", "accessURL": "https://doi.org/10.5066/P14MTEZ3", "mediaType": "application/http", "description": "Landing page for access to the data" }, { "@type": "dcat:Distribution", "title": "Original Metadata", "format": "XML", "mediaType": "text/xml", "description": "The metadata original format", "downloadURL": "https://data.usgs.gov/datacatalog/metadata/USGS.6978fe92d4be0269295224a5.xml" } ] |
| identifier | http://datainventory.doi.gov/id/dataset/USGS_6978fe92d4be0269295224a5 |
| keyword |
[ "Atlantic Coast", "DSAS", "Digital Shoreline Analysis System", "Gulf Coast", "HWL", "High Water Line", "Historical Shorelines", "Long-term Rate", "MHW", "Mean High Water", "NOAA", "North America", "Pacific Coast", "Shoreline Change Rate", "Shorelines", "Transect", "U.S. Geological Survey", "USGS", "USGS:6978fe92d4be0269295224a5", "United States", "WDL", "Wet Dry Line", "Woods Hole Coastal and Marine Science Center", "coastal processes", "environment", "geoscientificInformation", "geospatial datasets", "oceans" ] |
| modified | 2026-05-22T00:00:00Z |
| publisher |
{ "name": "U.S. Geological Survey", "@type": "org:Organization" } |
| spatial | -124.594049, 25.664117, -69.776564, 47.885091 |
| theme |
[ "geospatial" ] |
| title | Transects with long-term (1800s-2010s) shoreline change rate calculations for the contiguous United States compiled from regional analyses |
