Rhode Island Published Six Decades of Coastal Data

A new portal tracks long-term erosion across eight state beaches to inform future coastal management.

Updated on Oct. 8, 2026 in Geography

Bold flat-color editorial illustration of vertical wooden survey poles in sand dunes, representing long-term coastal erosion data. — The University of Rhode Island has released a public portal mapping six decades of coastal erosion data across eight state beaches to aid future management. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

Live Poll

Should coastal communities restrict new home construction to help protect vulnerable shorelines from erosion?

The University of Rhode Island has launched a public website documenting 60 years of coastal erosion data across eight state beaches. The project consolidates findings from approximately 1,000 individual surveys conducted since 1962.

Why it matters

The site provides public access to long-term shoreline trends, assisting residents and managers in understanding coastal shifts. It was funded by the Rhode Island Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council to ground policy in historical physical data.

Researchers use a real-time kinematic global positioning system—a tool that uses satellite networks to provide precise location data—to measure elevation profiles from the waterline to inland vegetation. Since 2023, this system has standardized the collection of data for the 1,000 surveys documented.

The players

University of Rhode Island

A public research institution that maintains coastal monitoring programs and archives decades of geological data.

Rhode Island Executive Climate Change Coordinating Council

A state-level body that oversees climate strategy and provided funding for the new coastal data portal.

The details

Surveyors create detailed beach profiles by measuring the physical change in elevation points between the ocean waterline and terrestrial vegetation. By integrating this current data with historical records, researchers map the landward migration of beach faces. For instance, the Moonstone beach face has shifted 100 feet landward since 1963, a marker of ongoing coastal retreat in the region.

1938: The Great Hurricane destroyed the Weekapaug Inn and killed 41 people in Westerly.
1962: The University of Rhode Island began the long-term beach survey project.
2012: Superstorm Sandy caused significant beach and dune changes across the monitored sites.
2023: Standardized survey practices shifted to the use of global positioning systems.
2026: The University of Rhode Island launched the new website.

The Tech Race

This effort builds on the University of Rhode Island beach survey project, which has maintained continuous monitoring since 1962. It represents a shift toward digitizing decades of geological record to inform regional climate resilience strategies.

Residents and local managers can use the new website to view historic erosion data for specific sites in South Kingstown, Westerly, and Charlestown. This information provides a baseline for understanding how local geography has changed over the last 60 years.

The takeaway

The data highlights a clear trend of landward beach migration and significant erosion along the Rhode Island coast. Residents should monitor future site updates to see how subsequent storm seasons affect the elevation profiles of these eight monitored beaches.