Synopsis: The NOAA Remote Sensing Division has performed extensive aerial collection of semi-oblique and nadir (traditional) georeferenced imagery of Alaska’s coastline in the summers of 2016 and 2017 to serve as a baseline in assessing navigation impacts of future coastal events and informing coastal-zone management. Additional collection is planned for 2018. The 2017 collection, available e at : https://geodesy.noaa.gov/storm_archive/alaska/index.html covers more than 50% of the northern Alaska coastline from Kotzbue to the Canadian border. The approximate ground sample distance (GSD) for each pixel of the nadir imagery is 50 cm and forward/aft overlap imagery in the collection creates new opportunities for these data to be processed into Digital Surface Model (DSM) using Structure from Motion (SfM) photogrammetric techniques.

DSM generation with the 2017 imagery can be used to inform new standards for the collection of NOAA airborne digital imagery and the resultant products will be of substantial value to updating shoreline positions, calculating erosion rates, and making volumetric estimates of geomorphic chance on Alaska’s North Slope.