The Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska is an area of strategic economic importance to the United States, is home to remote Native American communities, and encompasses unique habitats of global significance. Coastal erosion along the north coast of Alaska is chronic, widespread, may be accelerating, and is threatening defense and energy-related infrastructure, natural shoreline habitats, and Native communities. There is an increased demand for accurate information regarding past and present shoreline changes across the United States. To meet these national needs, the Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is compiling existing reliable historical shoreline data along sandy shores of the conterminous United States and parts of Alaska and Hawaii under the National Assessment of Shoreline Change project. There is no widely accepted standard for analyzing shoreline change. Existing shoreline data measurements and rate calculation methods vary from study to study and prevent combining results into state-wide or regional assessments. The impetus behind the National Assessment project was to develop a standardized method of measuring changes in shoreline position that is consistent from coast to coast. The goal was to facilitate the process of periodically and systematically updating the results in an internally consistent manner.

The Arctic Coastal Plain of northern Alaska is an area of strategic economic importance to the United States, is home to remote Native American communities, and encompasses unique habitats of global significance. Coastal erosion along the north coast of Alaska is chronic, widespread, may be accelerating, and is threatening defense and energy-related infrastructure, natural shoreline habitats, and Native communities. There is an increased demand for accurate information regarding past and present shoreline changes across the United States. To meet these national needs, the Coastal and Marine Geology Program of the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) is compiling existing reliable historical shoreline data along sandy shores of the conterminous United States and parts of Alaska and Hawaii under the National Assessment of Shoreline Change project. There is no widely accepted standard for analyzing shoreline change. Existing shoreline data measurements and rate calculation methods vary from study to study and prevent combining results into state-wide or regional assessments. The impetus behind the National Assessment project was to develop a standardized method of measuring changes in shoreline position that is consistent from coast to coast. The goal was to facilitate the process of periodically and systematically updating the results in an internally consistent manner.

This dataset includes shorelines from 65 years ranging from 1947 to 2012 for the north coast of Alaska between the Colville River and Point Barrow. Shorelines were compiled from topographic survey sheets (T-sheets; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)), aerial orthophotographs (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), and lidar elevation data(USGS). Historical shoreline positions serve as easily understood features that can be used to describe the movement of beaches through time. These data are used to calculate rates of shoreline change for the U.S. Geological Survey's National Assessment of Shoreline Change Project. Rates of long-term and short-term shoreline change were generated in a GIS using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 4.3. DSAS uses a measurement baseline method to calculate rate-of-change statistics. Transects are cast from the reference baseline to intersect each shoreline, establishing measurement points used to calculate shoreline change rates.

This dataset includes shorelines from 63 years ranging from 1947 to 2010 for the north coast of Alaska between the Hulahula River and the Colville River. Shorelines were compiled from topographic survey sheets (T-sheets; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)), aerial orthophotographs (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Conoco-Philips (CP), British Petroleum Alaska (BPXA)), satellite imagery (State of Alaska), and lidar elevation data (USGS). Historical shoreline positions serve as easily understood features that can be used to describe the movement of beaches through time. These data are used to calculate rates of shoreline change for the U.S. Geological Survey's National Assessment of Shoreline Change Project. Rates of long-term and short-term shoreline change were generated in a GIS using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 4.3. DSAS uses a measurement baseline method to calculate rate-of-change statistics. Transects are cast from the reference baseline to intersect each shoreline, establishing measurement points used to calculate shoreline change rates.

This dataset includes historical shoreline positions that span 70 years, from 1947 to 2017, for the north coast of Alaska between the U.S. Canadian Border to the Hulahula River. Shorelines were compiled from topographic survey sheets (T-sheets; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)), aerial orthophotographs (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Conoco-Philips (CP), British Petroleum Alaska (BPXA), and NOAA), satellite imagery (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and State of Alaska), and lidar elevation data (USGS). Historical shoreline positions serve as easily understood features that can be used to describe the movement of beaches through time. These data are used to calculate rates of shoreline change. Rates of long-term (70 years) and short-term (less than 40 years) shoreline change were generated in a GIS using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 5.1. DSAS uses a measurement baseline method to calculate rate-of-change statistics. Transects are cast from the reference baseline to intersect each shoreline, establishing measurement points used to calculate shoreline change rates.

This dataset includes historical shoreline positions that span 70 years, from 1947 to 2017, for the north coast of Alaska between the Hulahula River and the Colville River. Shorelines were compiled from topographic survey sheets (T-sheets; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)), aerial orthophotographs (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Conoco-Philips (CP), British Petroleum Alaska (BPXA), and NOAA), satellite imagery (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and State of Alaska), and lidar elevation data (USGS). Historical shoreline positions serve as easily understood features that can be used to describe the movement of beaches through time. These data are used to calculate rates of shoreline change. Rates of long-term (70 years) and short-term (less than 40 years) shoreline change were generated in a GIS using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 5.1. DSAS uses a measurement baseline method to calculate rate-of-change statistics. Transects are cast from the reference baseline to intersect each shoreline, establishing measurement points used to calculate shoreline change rates.

This dataset includes shorelines from 65 years ranging from 1947 to 2012 for the north coast of Alaska between Point Barrow and Icy Cape. Shorelines were compiled from topographic survey sheets and Nautical Charts (T-sheet, Nautical Chart; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)), aerial orthophotographs (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), satellite imagery (State of Alaska), and lidar elevation data (USGS). Historical shoreline positions serve as easily understood features that can be used to describe the movement of beaches through time. These data are used to calculate rates of shoreline change for the U.S. Geological Survey's National Assessment of Shoreline Change Project. Rates of long-term and short-term shoreline change were generated in a GIS using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 4.3. DSAS uses a measurement baseline method to calculate rate-of-change statistics. Transects are cast from the reference baseline to intersect each shoreline, establishing measurement points used to calculate shoreline change rates.

This dataset includes shorelines from 63 years ranging from 1947 to 2010 for the north coast of Alaska between the U.S. Canadian Border and the Hulahula River. Shorelines were compiled from topographic survey sheets (T-sheets; National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)), aerial orthophotographs (U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), satellite imagery (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), State of Alaska), and lidar elevation data (USGS). Historical shoreline positions serve as easily understood features that can be used to describe the movement of beaches through time. These data are used to calculate rates of shoreline change for the U.S. Geological Survey's National Assessment of Shoreline Change Project. Rates of long-term and short-term shoreline change were generated in a GIS using the Digital Shoreline Analysis System (DSAS) version 4.3. DSAS uses a measurement baseline method to calculate rate-of-change statistics. Transects are cast from the reference baseline to intersect each shoreline, establishing measurement points used to calculate shoreline change rates.