"ShoreZone"

The web-posted Alaska Shore Station Database is a compilation of hundreds of intertidal sites that were visited and evaluated throughout the coastal waters of Alaska. At each station attempts are made to document all observed species and their assemblages, geomorphic features, measurements of beach length and slope, and gather photographic examples. This online database has been designed to integrate with the spatially explicit, Alaska ShoreZone web enabled GIS platform. The end result is a user friendly and accessible version of the Shore Station database with a queryable display of station locations, downloadable species lists and photos.

Alaska ShoreZone Program - Aerial Imaging Surveys in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

Alaska ShoreZone Program - Aerial Imaging Surveys in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

Aerial Imaging Surveys in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

Day number three and mother nature was smiling sunshine. Although this makes for prime flying conditions it actually is not good lighting for imaging. Sunlight can reflect on the surface of the water and create a blinding reflection when you are shooting down from a helicopter flying at several hundred feet. The extreme contrast in lighting can send the camera’s light meters into a tailspin resulting in under and over exposed photos. Imaging glaciers on a sunny day is also challenging for the same reasons, nothing like a giant piece of ice to reflect sunlight and wash out a photo. While flying we must always be aware of what angle the sunlight is at and where it will be as we wind around tight corners and move under the shadows of steep mountain faces following the contour of complex shorelines. Sometimes there's just no avoiding getting photobombed by the sun. The ideal conditions for imaging the coastal zone are no wind, light cloud cover with a high ceiling (several thousand feet), and no rain. A show stopper for the imaging team is when the fog monster shows up.

Alaska ShoreZone Program - Aerial Imaging Surveys in Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve.

We have successfully completed Day 2 of surveying Glacier Bay National Park for some of the northern headlands in the bay. Today’s survey included imaging of Reid Glacier (see image below), the first of many tidewater glaciers to come. So far, the flight crew has been able to generally stick to their flight plan. Glacier Bay National Park & Preserve 2018 facts (National Park Service): Two hundred and fifty years ago a single, large tidewater glacier covered all of Glacier Bay. By 1750 the glacier began to retreat and has now retreated 60 miles to the head of the bay. At last count there were 1, 045 glaciers in the Park. There are over 50 named glaciers, seven of which are active tidewater glaciers that calve icebergs into the sea. In general, tidewater and terrestrial glaciers in the Park have been thinning and receding over the last several decades. Exceptions include the Johns Hopkins and Margerie glaciers.

Photo catalog of fish species in nearshore waters of Alaska.

Images, videos and maps of Alaska's coastline. 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.

Read up on these logs and reports detailing video imaging surveys done in Alaska.