Climatide

flickr/Bill Brine

Norton Point Beach (top) on Martha's Vineyard is the fastest eroding beach in Massachusetts. This aerial photo looks south over Katama Bay and the communities of Chappaquiddick (left) and Edgartown (right).

Between natural processes and the double-whammy of rising sea level and coastal development, two thirds of New England’s beaches are eroding. Which ones are hardest hit? Woods Hole Group has used state data on shoreline changes through 1994 to find the fastest eroding beaches in Massachusetts. Here’s the top twenty list:

1. Norton Point Beach West (Edgartown) – 14.9 ft/yr
2. Madaket (Nantucket) – 11.5 ft/yr
3. South Beach State Park Middle (Edgartown) – 9.6 ft/yr
4. Surfside 2 (Nantucket) – 8.6 ft/yr
5. Cisco (Nantucket) – 6.4 ft/yr
6. South Beach State Park Right Fork (Edgartown) – 5.7 ft/yr
7. Miacomet (Nantucket) – 4.9 ft/yr
8. Lucy Vincent Beach (Chilmark) – 4.6 ft/yr
9. Chapin Memorial (Dennis) – 4.6 ft/yr
10. Coast Guard (Eastham) – 4.2 ft/yr
11. Forest Street (Chatham) – 3.7 ft/yr
12. Marconi Beach (Wellfleet) – 3.1 ft/yr
13. First Encounter (Eastham) – 3.1 ft/yr
14. Nauset Light (Eastham) – 2.9 ft/yr
15. Maguires Landing (Wellfleet) – 2.9 ft/yr
16. Cahoon Hollow (Wellfleet) – 2.9 ft/yr
17. White Crest (Wellfleet) – 2.9 ft/yr
18. Nauset (Orleans) – 2.8 ft/yr
19. Washing Pond (Nantucket) – 2.7 ft/yr
20. Plum Island (Newburyport) – 2.7 ft/yr

For those not from around here, Chilmark and Edgartown are communities on Martha’s Vineyard. Dennis, Eastham, Chatham, Orleans and Wellfleet are five of the fifteen towns on Cape Cod. In other words, 19 of the top 20 most endangered beaches in Massachusetts are on the Cape and Islands.