ShoreZone in Alaska, A Tool with Many Applications
National Marine Fisheries Service Alaska Cindy Hartmann Moore, NMFS AKR Steve Lewis, NMFS, AKR Mandy Lindeberg, NMFS, AFSC, ABL Dr. John Harper, CORI
ShoreZone is a coastal habitat mapping system that organizes physical and biological attributes of the coast into an integrated, searchable inventory.
It is a tool for science, education, management and environmental hazard planning.
Selawik Lake, Kotzebue Sound What is ShoreZone? Standardized Coastal Habitat Mapping System ShoreZone images and characterizes biophysical attributes in both along- shore and across-shore components in a spatially explicit environment.
wave exposure geomorphology sediment texture
intertidal/subtidal biota supratidal biota man-made features Alaska ShoreZone Program:
A collaborative effort of many organizations. Initiated in Alaska in 2001.
Acquiring Coastal Imagery (~ 86% imaged)
Habitat Mapping
Online Products (continual updates) & outreach
Are we ShoreZone Progress in Alaska done yet? ShoreZone Protocol
Imagery collection and mapping
Guidelines for users
Codes and definitions
Diagrams
Photographic examples
Available on-line
Acquiring Coastal Imagery
Video and still imagery is acquired:
Aerial imagery
Low altitude
Oblique
Geo-referenced
Collected during low tide window ShoreZone Mapping Process Use a systematic mapping system to convert imagery to searchable mapping data Mapper interpreting the imagery and coding it into the database ShoreZone Protocols - Shore Types Biophysical Mapping Physical and biological features of across-shore zones are mapped with respect to relative tidal position Phase II: Habitat Mapping - Digital Shoreline GPS flight trackline recorded at Navigation trackline and imagery are used to 1-second intervals: segment digital shoreline into along-shore units: Habitat Mapping - “Biobands”
SED
ZOS
VER FUC RED SBR A Rigorous Geospatial Database ShoreZone Summary Reports
Shore Type ShoreZone Online
ShoreZone.org – partner website http://shorezone.org/
Main portal - NOAA Fisheries web enabled GIS, “flex site“ http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/shorezone/
Other portals (ERMA, BSEE, AOOS)
Alaska ShoreZone - Flex Desktop Alaska ShoreZone - online ShoreZone - online Recent ShoreZone Online Services
NOAA website: NOAA mobile: internet and stand alone YouTube streaming video Local photos and units
Download video clips Internet photos\YouTube & units
Download shapefiles, xshore Low resolution imagery
Fish Atlas and Shore Station overlay Medium resolution imagery
Linking video and photo play Full resolution imagery
WMS basemap layers Additional Resources online
WOW!
http://alaskafisheries.noaa.gov/mapping/szflex/szapps.htm There’s an App for That! Seriously?
Smart phones/ tablets
Carry Map
Load and go
Digital Data Dictionary: wiki-zone
Go to www.shorezone.org
• Look up definitions to classifications
• Search for species descriptions
• Access classification tables
• See photographic examples ShoreZone Query Manual:
• Step-by-step instructions on how to query the database in ArcGIS and MS Access.
• Perform analytical queries such as eelgrass distributions, oil residency index, shore types, and more. Applications of ShoreZone
Originally developed for oil spill planning and response
First responders – USCG, federal and state agencies
Resource Managers – provides habitat data
Scientists – site selection, monitoring, species distribution
Educators and students – coastal environment studies
Assessing Coastal Vulnerability
Coastal planning Coastal Vulnerability Indices Indices have to be based on features that are visible in the imagery Coastal Stability Index: characterize each shoreline unit as either erosional or accretional with classes based on morphologic character and vegetation cover.
Stability Class Description CE4 Actively eroding, bare-faced cliff (<10% vegetation cover) CE3 Erosional Actively eroding, partially vegetated cliff (10 - 90% vegetation cover) cliff CE2 Actively eroding, complete vegetated cliff (>90% cover) but veg “disturbed” CE1 Retreating barrier island, spit; possibly with outcropping peat LASTIC
C CS Stable Stable slope with tundra vegetation CA1 Prograding beach with a single storm berm or dune CA2 Accretional Prograding beach with multiple storm berms or dunes CA3 Prograding beach with wide beach ridge plain in backshore
WE2 Peat layers in sub-tidal, often with polygon form still evident Erosional WE1 Eroding peat scarp WS Stable Stable – no obvious features indicating erosion or accretion Prograding wetland – immature wetland Prograding across flats (most
WETLAND WA1 Accretional common in deltaic wetland complexes)
CE4 CE3 CE2 Coastal Stability Index
• Actively eroding bare-faced cliff (Class CE4)
• 51 km or 1% of the 5,008 km of coastline mapped.
CE4 Coastal Vulnerability Indices Indices have to be based on features that are visible in the imagery
Flooding Sensitivity Index: characterize the flooding potential of each shoreline unit based on the observed postion of the storm log line.
Flooding Class Description Flooding >100 m inland from HWL as indicated by the highest logline F4 Major F3 ↑ Flooding 50-100m inland from HWL as indicated by the highest logline F2 ↑ Flooding 10-50 m inland from HWL as indicated by the highest logline F1 Minor Flooding <10 m inland from HWL as indicated by the highest logline
Storm log line, estimated 35 m landward of normal swash line Normal swash lines so F2 flooding class Coastal Flooding Index
• Flooding greater than 100 m inland from active swash line
• 1,056 k (21%) of the 5,008 km of coastline mapped.
More than 100m inundation would occur here Coastal Vulnerability Indices Indices have to be based on features that are visible in the imagery
Thaw Sensitivity Index: characterize each shoreline unit based on cover of thaw lakes. Locations with more thaw lakes will have a greater sensitivity to sea level rise. Thaw Sensitivity Class Description T4 Extensive thaw lakes, standing water, >50% standing water in flooding zone T3 High Moderate thaw lake density, 25-50% standing water in flooding zone ↑ Minor thaw lake density or standing water, 10-25% standing water in flooding T2 Low zone T1 Negligible standing water, <10% standing water in flooding zone X Coastal Hazards not applicable (rock, anthropogenic)
T3 T2 T1 Thaw Sensivity Index
• Plot coastline with >50% thaw lake cover
• 1,249 km (25%) of the 5,008 km of coastline mapped.
Thaw lake cover >50% A True Measure of Success is:
“We used ShoreZone to ……” Recent Testimonial – graduate student
Nicole Bitler - Committee on Evolutionary Biology, The University of Chicago
“The ShoreZone habitat mapping resource has been incredibly helpful for my research on the phenotypic consequences of range expansion in two marine intertidal whelks, Nucella lamellosa and Nucella ostrina. As a graduate student at the University of Chicago, the ShoreZone maps helped me pinpoint ideal sites for collection and have also allowed me to retrospectively assess the biological and environmental characteristics of sites that I visited during my field work in Alaska.
The categorization of wave exposure across coastal sites is one of the features of the maps that has been most useful for my work, since wave exposure has been shown to strongly influence morphology in the whelks I am studying. The photographs and videos associated with the sites are also a fantastic resource, and I have used them in communicating my research to scientific colleagues and non-scientists.” FY13/14 Alaska ShoreZone Partners
NMFS Alaska Region U.S. DOI FWS Yukon Delta NWR U.S. DOI BOEM
NMFS Auke Bay Lab U.S. DOI FWS NWR System U.S. DOI BSEE
NOAA NOS U.S. FWS Arctic LCC PWS RCAC
NOAA Alaska Region U.S. FWS Western Alaska LCC CI RCAC Collaboration Team U.S. BSAI LCC TNC UAF GINA U.S. DOI NPS AOOS
CORI
• The dataset is based on high-resolution imagery • Imagery is considered data and very carefully handled • All imagery and data are georeferenced and web- accessible • Data includes both physical and biological attributes • ~ 86% of the Alaska coast has been imaged and 85% mapped or has mapping in progress • Over 112,000 km of shoreline in the Pacific Northwest has been mapped (Oregon to the Arctic). ShoreZone in the Pacific North West Thank You Contacts:
NMFS Alaska Region: Cindy Hartmann Moore Steve Lewis
NMFS Alaska Fisheries Science Center: Mandy Lindeberg
The Nature Conservancy: Amalie Couvillion
Coastal and Ocean Resources: Dr. John harper Chukchi coast Dr. Carl Schoch