The Katmai Coast - a guide to coastal biophysical features and ecological processes
Harper J and Morris M. 2005. The Katmai Coast - a guide to coastal biophysical features and ecological processes. National Park Service, Southwest Alaska Network National Park Service. Anchorage, AK
This guide is intended to provide an overview of the coastal processes in Katmai National Park and Preserve. The guide was developed as part of a 2003 inventory of the coastal biophysical features within Katmai. It should give users and resources managers an understanding of the coastal features within the park, the processes that have shaped the features and the sensitivity of these features to both man-made and natural disturbances. In 2003, aerial surveys were conducted during a period of extremely low tides and video imagery was collected of the entire shoreline of the Katmai National Park and Preserve. The video imagery provides a high resolution picture of the coastline and associated biota. Geologists and biologists then view and classify the imagery to create a habitat inventory of coastal morphology, coastal substrate types and biota that are visible from the air. The patterns of these features tell a story about the processes that have created them. For example, runoff from rivers reaches the coast, river-born sediments are deposited within a delta, and the sediment is redistributed by around the delta by wave action. Landforms and species occurrence are strongly related to these patterns. In addition, 41 shore stations were visited from a vessel-based crew. These ground-based observations provide much more detail about the assemblages of intertidal species and their habitat.
- Type
- Unpublished Report
- Authors
- Harper, John; Morris, Mary
- Date of Issue
- 2005-04
- Publisher
- National Park Service, Southwest Alaska Network National Park Service
- Units
- KATM , SWAN
- Keywords
- Alaska, Biological, Coast, Estuarine, Geomorphology, Gulf Of Alaska, Inventory, Katmai, Marine, ShoreZone, Southwest Alaska