Rate of shoreline change statistics for New York State coastal wetlands

This data set contains shoreline rate of change statistics for New York State coastal wetlands. Analysis was performed using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS), created by U.S. Geological Survey, version 5.0, an extension for ArcMap. A reference baseline was used as the originating point for orthogonal transects cast by the DSAS software. The transects intersect each polyline vector shoreline establishing intersection measurement points, which were then used to calculate the rates of change. End-point rates, calculated by dividing the distance of shoreline movement by the time elapsed between the oldest and the most recent shoreline, were generated for wetlands where fewer than three historic shorelines were available. Linear regression rates, determined by fitting a least-squares regression line to all shoreline points for a particular transect, were used in areas where three or more shorelines were present. Positive values indicate shoreline accretion while negative values indicate erosion.