At just over 1 million square nautical miles in size and 66 percent unmapped as of January 2023, Alaska's ocean waters are the least mapped relative to any other U.S. state. The existing maps are sparse and predate modern mapping technologies, leaving much unknown about the Alaska seafloor and its impacts on navigation, fisheries, hazards, and more. Seascape Alaska is a collaborative project to fully map coastal and ocean waters throughout the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone.
Please join IARPC Collaborations for a webinar on this exciting mapping campaign. Seascape Alaska includes efforts to not only gather bathymetric data, but also understand the habitat, seafloor, archaeological, biological, chemical, and other oceanic attributes. Recently endorsed as a UN Ocean Decade Action, it is a collaboration among federal, Tribal, state, and non-governmental partners, and is in support of the 2020 National Strategy for Mapping, Exploring, and Characterizing the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone. This national strategy, referred to as the National Ocean Mapping, Exploration, and Characterization (or NOMEC) Strategy, is an ambitious multi-decadal plan to advance ocean science and technology in the United States through ocean mapping, exploration, and characterization.
Speakers Meredith Westington (NOAA Integrated Ocean and Coastal Mapping), Caroline Wilkinson (NOAA Office of Coast Survey), Sam Candio (NOAA Ocean Exploration), and Cheryl Morrison (USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center) will provide an overview of Seascape Alaska and introduce some recent accomplishments and upcoming plans. There will be time for discussion and questions.