The ShoreZone mapping system has been in use since the early 1980s and has been applied to more than 120,000 km of shoreline in Alaska, Oregon, Washington and British Columbia. As of 2018, approximately 94% of the state has ShoreZone imagery and of the area imaged approximately 98% is mapped. This project has been funded by NOAA and a number of other agencies and organizations throughout the years.
This standardized system catalogs both geomorphic and biological resources at mapping scales of better than 1:10,000. The high resolution, attribute-rich dataset is a useful tool for extrapolation of site data over broad spatial ranges for creating a variety of habitat models and oil spill response tools.
Low tide, oblique aerial imagery sets this system apart from other mapping efforts. You can "fly the coastline" (aerial video), view and download still photos, and access physical and biological data using our interactive website. Power users can download the entire ShoreZone geodatabase.
Fly the Alaska Coastline
Tutorials - How To Use ShoreZone
- YouTube
- ShoreZone: The Basics
- ShoreZone: Attribute and Unit Panels
- ShoreZone: Simple Query - Oil Spill Response
- ShoreZone: Simple Query - Subsistence Resources
- Navigating ShoreZone's Desktop
- User's Guide to Querying ShoreZone in ArcGIS and MS Access
- Entire manual (.zip file, 85 MB)
Supporting Materials
- 2017 ShoreZone Protocol
- 2014 ShoreZone Protocol
- ShoreZone Illustrated Data Dictionary
- ShoreZone Metadata (.zip file)
- Flight Logs and Summary Reports
- Relevant Presentations and Publications
- Coastal Impressions: A Photographic Journey along Alaska's Gulf Coast
- Arctic Impressions: A Photographic Journey along Alaska's Arctic Coast
- Report: ShoreZone Coastal Vulnerability Indices, Western Alaska, April 2014
- Presentation: Introduction to ShoreZone, (M. Lindeberg, 2014 annual partner's meeting)
- Poster: ShoreZone in Alaska and the Pacific Northwest, January 2014
- Paper: ShoreZone Verification in Preparation for Marine Oil Spills by Theresa Coyle, Herb Hunter and Steve Macdonald, Center for Aquaculture and Environmental Research, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, July 2016
Program Information
The Alaska ShoreZone program goal is to collect aerial imagery and habitat map all of Alaska's coastline and to make the imagery and the data both "physically and intellectually" accessible to everyone. Since 2003, more than 40 partners have contributed to the Alaska ShoreZone Program and annual meetings of all the partners are held to review the progress of the project, establish priorities and future goals, and identify potential funding sources.
Related Websites
Contact Information
NOAA Fisheries Alaska Regional Office
NOAA Fisheries Alaska Fisheries Science Center - Auke Bay Laboratories
