NOAA is mandated to identify Essential Fish Habitat by provisions of the Magnuson-Stevens Act, but the necessary data sets are not always available. In the marine environment, depth and sediment type are often the most important determinants of Essential Fish Habitat for fish that live on the bottom. Bathymetry data can be further analyzed into important habitat descriptors such as slope and roughness. Marine researchers are familiar with National Ocean Service nautical charts, which are often considered the most useful source of Essential Fish Habitat information in Alaskan waters. The small scale (often 1:100,000 or smaller) means that the nautical charts lack significant fish habitat details. However, what most marine researchers do not know is that these National Ocean Service nautical charts are derived from more detailed, larger-scale (often 1:20,000) charts called "'smooth sheets," which are the final published product from the original charting surveys.
What are Smooth Sheets?
Details of how to work with smooth sheets are available in How to work with Smooth sheets.
Bathymetry of Aleutian Island: 2013
Details of our processing methods can be found in Smooth Sheet Bathymetry of the Aleutian Islands, NOAA Tech Memo NMFS-AFSC-250.
Data Available for Download
DATA NOT TO BE USED FOR NAVIGATION
- 100-m Resolution Grid (Raster Surface) of the Bathymetry
- Bathymetry Grid Metadata
- Shape File of Sediment Point Data
- Sediment Metadata
Bathymetry of Cook Inlet
Scientists with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Groundfish Assessment Program expanded their mapping study of the Aleutian Islands to include Cook Inlet, Alaska.
Details of the processing methods for the smooth sheet data for Cook Inlet are available in Smooth sheet Bathymetry of Cook Inlet, Alaska. NOAA Tech. Memo. NMFS-AFSC-275.
Bathymetry of Central Gulf of Alaska
Alaska Fisheries Science Center scientists with the RACE Groundfish Program proofed, corrected, and digitized 1.75 million lead-line and single-beam echosounder soundings from 225 National Ocean Service hydrographic surveys represented as smooth sheets in the central Gulf of Alaska. This bathymetry compilation ranged geographically from the Trinity Islands in the west to Cape Ommaney in the east, covering an arc of about 1,400 km of shelf.
Bathymetry of Norton Sound
As a continuation of work in Alaskan waters, scientists with the Alaska Fisheries Science Center’s Groundfish Assessment Program have published smooth sheet bathymetry for Norton Sound, Alaska. This work is part of a project using smooth sheets to provide better seafloor information for fisheries research.
Additional Resources
- Smooth Sheet Bathymetry: How to Work With Them in a GIS to Derive Bathymetry, Features and Substrates
- Alaska Bathymetry Data and Publications
- Alaska Bathymetry Map
- Alaska Bathymetry Smooth Sheet Metadata
- Smooth Sheet Bathymetry of the Aleutian Islands
- Smooth Sheet Bathymetry of the Central Gulf of Alaska
- Smooth Sheet Bathymetry of Cook Inlet, Alaska
- Smooth Sheet Bathymetry of Norton Sound Alaska
- Bathymetry Sediment Point Data
- Alaska Bathymetry: 100-m Resolution Grid (Raster Surface) of the Bathymetry
- Bathymetry Grid Metadata
- Alaska Essential Fish Habitat Research Plan: A Research Plan for the National Marine Fisheries Service's Alaska Fisheries Science Center and Alaska Regional Office
- Smooth Sheets Hosted by National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI)
