Alaska Shore Station Database

Introduction - A Web Accessible GIS Application

Shore Station transect in Kodiak. Photo: NOAA Fisheries

The Alaska Shore Station Database is a compilation of hundreds of intertidal sites that were visited and evaluated throughout the coastal waters of Alaska. The Shore Station website was developed to make available data collected since 2002 during low tide surveys. The website data can be added to as new surveys are conducted.

Shore station survey data include observed species and their assemblages, geomorphic features such as sediment substrates and forms, beach length, slope and specific elevation profiles, and station photo documentation.

This online database has been designed to provide easy access to Shore Station data via queryable displays of stations at local and regional geographic scales and the ability to download species lists and photos.

The ground stations are ‘point features’ that are spatially linked to the Alaska ShoreZone Arc Server database on the web. Due to the expense of accessing many of Alaska’s remote coastal areas, shore station data were often collected opportunistically and, thus, the sites were not selected in a statistically random manner. However, every attempt was made to choose sites that encompassed the range of observed coastal habitats and wave exposures... more >>