Recently the term “coastal erosion” has been popping up in the news, but what does it mean? If you look up the word erosion in the dictionary, it references the root word “erode,” which means to “eat into, wear away, or disintegrate.” So coastal erosion is erosion that occurs along coastlines. With about half of the population of the United States (and the world) living close to the ocean, damage from coastal erosion is a very costly problem. For more information, see the Fall 2003 Climate Education Update.