Get to know the Alaska ShoreZone Project better with some commonly asked questions. Click any question below to view the answer. If your question is not listed below, contact Alaska ShoreZone directly.
What is ShoreZone and how is the data collected?
ShoreZone is a standardized coastal habitat mapping system which covers the supratidal, intertidal, and some subtidal areas of the coast. Biologist and geologist fly along the shoreline at the lowest tides of the year during the summer to collect geo-referenced video and still photos and simultaneous commentary. Digital mappers then take imagery and commentary and classify the physical and biological features in the imagery into a digital, spatial database.
The mapping system provides data to support coastal management, community planning, facilities citing, conservation planning, research and fisheries management, emergency planning and response, search and rescue, habitat modeling, etc.
How do I access ShoreZone imagery and data?
1) Flying the shoreline on the NOAA website: Click here to access the NOAA Alaska ShoreZone Mapper
2) Plotting and downloading summarized data, photos, and web-captures on the NOAA Alaska ShoreZone Mapper
3) Full ArcGIS database: Please contact Steve Lewis for the geospatial database.
4) Video and still photo imagery is available for the cost of an external hard drive. For us to better assist with your request, please refer to the flight logs to document exact areas of interest.
5) Alaska ShoreZone Tutorials were recorded to help you learn about ShoreZone methodology, how to use the NOAA ShoreZone Mapper, download imagery, and query digital data.
How do I learn about the definitions of ShoreZone data and attributes?
A dictionary that describes all of the ShoreZone attributes, indices, and gives color photos and examples of the data is provided. Click here to access the ShoreZone Data Dictionary.
Where is the existing coverage of ShoreZone?
State of Washington, British Columbia, the majority of the Gulf of Alaska.
How do I get training?
Training tools have been developed for your use. A set of online tutorials have been recorded, click here to access the tutorials. The Nature Conservancy's Alaska Field can work with you to set up an in-person or remote training.Contact us for more information.
Where can I find reports, literature, and metadata regarding the use of ShoreZone data?
Click here to view all summary reports, field verification reports, repeatability studies, the ShoreZone Data Dictionary, and other supporting materials.
Our community is interested in the Alaska ShoreZone Project. How do we get involved and how can we help?
The Alaska ShoreZone Mapping Project works with partners from across Alaska to involve people in this project. This is an on-going and active project and if you are interested in getting involved, please contact us. You can get help by simply writing to your state legislator in support of the project, helping fundraising efforts, or helping to teach others how to use the ShoreZone mapping tools.
Who is the Alaska ShoreZone Mapping Project?
There are over twenty partners that participate in the Alaska ShoreZone project. The Nature Conservancy's Alaska Field Office is the host for the Alaska ShoreZone website. The coordinator for Alaska ShoreZone Steering Committee is NOAA National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Region. Feel free to contact us for more information.
Why can't we rely on Google Earth or satellite imagery for taking an inventory of the intertidal zone?
There are several challenges regarding satellite imagery which prevent us from relying on this technology. Satellite images are taken when the lighting is best, usually around the noon hour. This timing rarely coincides with the extreme low tides of Alaska. Satellite imagery is sometimes taken during winter months when ice cover would prevent us from interpreting the shoreline attributes and cloud cover is often a major problem in the imagery.
ShoreZone methods ensure that imagery is taken during extreme low tide events during the summer months when the biology is in bloom. Satellite imagery does not yet have the capability of capturing the details that high resolution photography can capture. However, it is useful and complimentary to couple satellite imagery together with ShoreZone imagery and data. Thus, the NOAA ShoreZone Mapper includes a Virtual Earth satellite image layer.
How often do you plan to update the imagery along the coast?
There are no current plans to take updated imagery of the coast on a regular basis. This project is meant to establish a baseline inventory of coastal resources. For example, the imagery and data gathered in this project can help people prioritize the collection of additional imagery and monitoring for more specific purposes.
What is the purpose of taking photos if seasonal changes in habitat types, such as sand spits or coastal bluffs, and intertidal biota, such as kelp beds and eelgrass beds, may occur?
The purpose of the imagery and digital data is to establish a baseline inventory of habitat type locations and locations where intertidal biota could potentially inhabit. Sand spits and eroding bluffs may change dramatically over time, but the habitat types remain the same. Individuals interested in specific areas can apply the ShoreZone methodology to detect changes over time. This specific application of ShoreZone methods would simply be too expensive to apply across the entire state.
How does an advanced GIS analyst gain access to the entire ShoreZone geospatial database?
Please contact Steve Lewis at the NOAA Fisheries Alaska Region. Steve is responsible for distributing this updated database upon request.
What are ShoreStations?
Shore stations provide an on-the-ground detailed description of the biota and coastal features that are mapped from the air. The Alaska Shore Station Database is a compilation of hundreds of intertidal sites that were visited and evaluated throughout the coastal waters of Alaska. Shore station survey data include observed species and their assemblages, geomorphic features such as sediment substrates and forms, beach length, slope and specific elevation profiles, and station photo documentation. This database helps users have a better understanding of possible regional differences between habitat types. Visit the Shore Station Database.
What's the difference between ShoreZone and the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI)?
The two systems are complementary in that each has specific applications and features that the other may not address. The ESI maps provide a nationally standardized, color-coded index of sensitivity of the shoreline to oil spill response. The ESI system uses wave exposure, substrate type, and biological productivity to assign a shoreline ranking (1-10) that reflects the relative degree of sensitivity to oil spills. ShoreZone includes these ESI index ratings and a second index, the Oil Residence Index, used to describe the self-cleaning ability of the coast based on a combination of wave exposure and substrate type (Bartlett & Smith 2001; Harney 2008).
Both ESI and ShoreZone techniques document biological resources, but they do so in distinct ways that are complementary. For example, ESI maps include locations of seal haul-outs and bird colonies, which ShoreZone does not. ShoreZone biological data relates to the presence and relative abundance of supratidal, intertidal, and nearshore flora and fauna such as salt marsh vegetation, eelgrass, algae, and kelps. ShoreZone provides detailed biologic and geomorphologic attributes in a spatial database; downloadable GIS layers; collection and public web-posting of high-resolution aerial imagery; ability to download that imagery; and a query engine to create your own data layers and models.
References
Bartlett, D., and J. Smith. 2001. GIS for Coastal Zone Management. Coastal GIS '01 Conference. CRC Press, Halifax, N.S.
Harney, J. N. 2008. ShoreZone Coastal Habitat Mapping Protocol for the Gulf of Alaska. Pages A-15. Coastal and Ocean Resources Inc., Sidney, British Columbia.
