ShoreZone in , 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 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 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 . 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 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