Results and products from NCCOS’s Kachemak Bay ecological assessment have generated new seafloor habitat maps and geospatial data viewers, developed “state of the bay” reports and made geospatial data more accessible for a wide variety of users. Now, these products and tools are accessible in one central location: the Kachemak Bay Ecosystem Assessment Project story map.

The story map serves as a visual guide that houses and communicates information about products resulting from the ecological assessment, including data, map viewers, videos, story maps, reports and publications for coastal managers, students, and the general public. These products incorporate geospatial (bathymetry, benthic and shoreline habitat maps, aerial imagery, ocean circulation) and observational (oceanographic, harmful algal blooms, contaminant, drop-camera imagery, ocean acidification) data for Kachemak Bay.

Montage of images representing some ecosystem issues in Kachemak Bay that are addressed in the Story Map describing various products from the Kachemak Bay Ecosystem Assessment Project.

Kachemak Bay, a state-designated critical habitat area, National Estuarine Research Reserve, NOAA Habitat Focus Area, and the site of the NCCOS Kasitsna Bay Laboratory, is a productive marine ecosystem facing environmental challenges. The goal of the ongoing ecological assessment is to identify and summarize ecosystem changes over the past two decades — with a focus on climate change, harmful algal blooms, shellfish, marine mammals, and ocean acidification — and develop information tools from research and monitoring results to inform coastal managers in the region. The bay also provides a model for what might be done in other coastal areas of Alaska.

The products featured in this story map represent the culmination of a four year collaboration between NOAA and more than 20 federal, state, tribal, and academic partners.