Harford 30 years Shoreline Erosion Level

DSAS, a computer program developed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), determines linear rates of shoreline change along closely spaced, shore-normal transects. Based on DSAS output, MGS assigned generalized rate of change categories as attributes to a recent shoreline for Harford County.

This recent shoreline consisted of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Continually Updated Shoreline Product (CUSP) digital shoreline currently available for Harford County. Based on the results of an End Point Rate (EPR) analysis on the ca. 1970s NOAA National Shoreline data sets and the ca. 2000 NOAA CUSP shoreline (recent shoreline), MGS grouped the rate results into the following general categories: (a) No change (-0.01 to 0.01 feet/year), (b) Accretion (greater than 0.01 feet/year), (c) Slight erosion rate (0 to -2 feet/year), (d) Low erosion rate (-2 to -4 feet/year), (e) Moderate erosion rate (-4 to -8 ft/yr), (f) High erosion rate (greater than -8 feet/year), (g) Protected, (h) No data (insufficient shorelines to calculate 30-year EPR rate), (i) No data (no transects cast; unprotected or unknown shoreline condition), and (j) Rates not delivered (calculated rates suspect).