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Lisianski Island: Maps and Imagery
Lisianski
Island map:
View a full-resolution version (215 KB).
Lisianski
Island IKONOS image:
View the 13m-resolution version (784 KB).
View the 8m-resolution version (1,575 KB).
Lisianski
Island bathymetry image:
View the 13m-resolution version (826 KB) with depth scale.
Download the 4-meter resolution geotiff (16,601 KB zip file). See the Digital number (DN) to Classification matchup for NWHI bathymetry files.
See the legend PDF to view the colorbars for the depth scales and the legends for habitat cover and detailed class.
Image
of Lisianski Island habitat cover:View the 13m-resolution version (1,876 KB) with legend.
Download the 4-meter resolution geotiff (3,101 KB zip file). See the Digital number (DN) to Classification matchup for NWHI habitat cover files.
See the legend PDF to view the colorbars for the depth scales and the legends for habitat cover and detailed class.
Lisianski
Island detailed habitat image:
View the 13m-resolution version (1,813 KB) with legend.
Download the 4-meter resolution geotiff (4,094 KB zip file). See the Digital number (DN) to Classification matchup for NWHI detailed classification files.
See the legend PDF to view the colorbars for the depth scales and the legends for habitat cover and detailed class.
Lisianski Island: Shapefiles
Click on the links below to download shapefiles which correspond to the French Frigate Shoals detailed habitat class and aggregated cover imagery. Each zipped shapefile consists of 6 separate files, with the same root name and .dbf, .prj, .sbn, .sbx, .shp, and .shx extensions.
Lisianski
Island: Detailed habitat shapefile (117 MB)
Lisianski
Island: Habitat cover shapefile (87 MB)
Download a .ZIP file which contains the Arc and PCI legend files (.avl and .rst extension) for the NWHI maps. When added to your Arc or PCI project, these files will cause the vector colors to match the geotiffs.
Lisianski Island: Description and History
Lying at longitude 173 degrees 58 minutes W and latitude 26 degrees 4 minutes N, Lisianski is found approximately 675 km ESE of Midway and 1,540 kilometers from Kaua'i. Lisianski Island is about 1.6 sq. km in size and is surrounded by a vast shallow-water coral reef ecosystem called Neva Shoal. Neva Shoal is estimated to be 1,158 sq. km in size. Lisianski Island and Neva Shoal were formed approximately 20 million years ago when the underlying shield volcano and a portion of the associated coral reef bank were lifted above sea level.
Neva Shoal was discovered by, and is named after, the Russian ship Neva — captained by Urey Lisianski — that ran aground on the reef in 1805. Numerous other ships have run argound at Lisianski over the years. Survivors reported that bird guano and feathers were available on Lisianski in quantities large enough to harvest. While guano mining never became profitable, harvesting bird wings and feathers did. Within a few years, starting in 1904, it is estimated that over 1 million birds were killed on Lisianski alone for feathers, meat, and wings. The public outcry was so loud that President Theodore Roosevelt signed an Executive Order in 1909 to establish the Hawaiian Island Bird Sanctuary. This bird sanctuary would later become the Hawaiian Islands National Wildlife Refuge. Today, the island also hosts the largest breeding colony of Bonin Petrels in Hawai'i. Three-fourths of all breeding pairs in the entire state breed here.